Anything But Ordinary
by Bella Lyn
Summary: What if Ginny and Harry hadn't met in school, and Ginny was just your everyday witch while Harry was a glorified celebrity? What happens when they meet under unusual cicumstances and Ginny sees that she is not just an ordinary girl in Harry's eyes? RR!
1. Chapter 1

**Summary: **This story does not follow the typical Harry Potter format. Ginny is just your average witch, recently graduated from Hogwarts. She was in her second year of school when Harry Potter and his friends defeated Voldemort for the last time. She had never met Harry personally though, and only knew of him because of his fame. Since the war, Harry had become the number one wizard in England, and is essentially a celebrity. There is nothing special about Ginny, but when they meet, she finds that her life soon becomes anything but normal.

**Timeline and other things I changed: **I did change a few things in this story, first the timeline. In it, Harry still defeats Voldemort during his seventh year, and Hermoine and Ron are in that year as well. Ron and Hermione both helped Harry, but Ron's family doesn't know it... I will explain in later chapters. Ginny was in her second year when Voldemort was defeated, therefore, she wasn't allowed to help, and has only seen Harry from a distance in person. There are about 5 years of age difference between Harry and Ginny.

Every time you don't review, a kitten dies... not really, but it made you think didn't it! REVIEW PLEASE!

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Ginny Weasley was your average, every day, meet on the street and never see again witch. If you were to ask her, she would gladly inform you that there were absolutely no special qualities whatsoever about her. She was pretty enough, she would tell you, but when it came down to it, she was just as important as everyone else; in other words she wasn't. That was her opinion anyway.

She was of average height, slightly skinnier than average build, and had an average pretty face. The two redeeming qualities about her body in her opinion, were her eyes and her hair. Her eyes started off with a ring of light blue in the center around the pupil, and faded out into darker blues, gradually building into a color she described as midnight on the outermost part of her iris. Her hair was an interesting comodity, reaching the middle of her back, and having an intense red color that made people stop and stare. Of course, she would then tell herself that they forgot about her immediately afterwards, after all, what was there to keep them interested?

Her friends and family vehemently disagreed with her self analysis, and described her in a number of different ways. Her two older brothers, Bill and Charlie, agreed that she was a sweetheart most of the time, and a great person to cheer you up with her humor, but her temper was not something to cross. Her brother Percy believed that she was very intelligent, but also thought that she was wasting her intelligence by not having a "proper" job. Her twin brothers Fred and George both unanimously agreed that they taught her well in upholding the family honor of pranking, making her a downright nasty little bugger, and that the bloke that got stuck with her would strongly regret it. Her youngest older brother Ron had little to say on the topic of Ginny, generally too caught up in his own affairs; which consisted of what he was eating and what Quidditch team was winning that season, to notice much about Ginny.

Her friends, of which she had many, being a very kind and sociable witch, all agreed that she was a spirited, quirky, fun person to be around. She was compassionate and sincere, but she could get worked into a temper quirker than anyone you were likely to meet. She was also passionate, and fought for anything she deemed worthy of fighting for.

The praises of friends and family fell on deaf ears though to Ginny, because as far as she was concerned, she was a plain jane. Worse even than normal witches because she didn't have a job related to the magical world.

She had graduated from Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry 5 years after the war ended. Therefore, she was in her second year of school when Harry Potter defeated Voldemort. She knew he would, after all, she had grown up hearing stories of him, he was her bedtime hero, he was supposed to beat the bad guy. It wasn't until she actually saw him at the end of her first year from a distance, crying over the death of the headmaster Dumbledore, did she see that maybe he was just an average guy and not suited to fight the most powerful wizard ever. She had thought that he looked too young to carry that responsibility.

She had seen him again at Dumbledore's funeral, and she noticed the hardened look on his face, and the determination he seemed to have to save the wizarding world from Voldemort. That was when she put her faith back in him, and a year later he had done it; he had set the wizard world free. The rest of her school years went by in a blur, none seeming to stand out due to how peaceful they all were compared to her first and second years which were filled with war and destruction.

She had spent the years trying to decide what she was going to do with her life once she graduated, but none of the jobs out there seemed right for her. She did not want to work in the Ministry after all the harm they had done during the beginning of the war (or so she heard from listening outside her parent's bedroom door during vacations), and she didn't want to play Quidditch professionally (which had been an option considering she was very good at it). None of the jobs she saw in the wizard world seemed right for her, and so she decided to go a different route, and got a Muggle job.

She became a dancer in a Muggle ballet company, and she would dance in performances a couple of times a year. It was actually a very good paying job because it was considered a difficult profession to get into, and all in all she would say she was quite successful. But she still never felt special, she always felt like she was just another face in the crowd.

Her brothers teased her all the time about turning her back on her wizarding roots and education, but she was still a witch, at home if not at work. Besides, dancing had always been the one thing that felt right to her. She was good in school no doubt, and did well in her classes, but dancing was where she excelled, and while her schoolwork sometimes left her confused and looking for a ryhme or reason to its ways, dancing left her feeling complete, and special, in ways that nothing else could.

In fact, dancing was the only time she ever felt like there was something worthwhile about her, and as soon as the music stopped and she took off her ballet shoes, she became just another person, a face in the crowd that would never be distinguished.


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you for the reviews so far! **I have updated chapter one so that it gives a detailed description of the timeline which I hae changed a bit, so please look there for reference. I have a good idea of where I want to take this story so I am excited! Keep reading, you will enjoy I hope!

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Ginny was nervous. That was the thing running through her mind. She was _nervous nervous nervous. _

Tonight was the first ballet performance she would be in since starting up with the ballet company a month before. That whole month had been dedicated to rehearsals and practices, and tonight was going to be the opening night. Ginny was going to be sick.

It was actually a big deal, this performance. There were about 1,000 seats in the huge theatre, and every single seat had been sold. Tickets were quite expensive too, or so complained Ginny's brothers, so Ginny knew that this was not some recital for a dance school. This was first class entertainment for those who could afford it, and Ginny was the main dish _er, main event rather. Calm down Ginny, these people will enjoy you, your not going to mess up, you know the moves too well. Besides, you could always obliviate any memories they might have of you messing up if you do, _she thought to herself as she paced around the large dressing room where 3 other girls were rushing to get ready.

"Stop pacing Ginny, you'll wear a hole into the bottom of your ballet slippers! Besides, you know you'll be fine, your one of the best dancers here!" said one Muggle girl named Rachel. Rachel and Ginny had become friends quickly after Ginny joined, and they usually hung out together, although Ginny always had to be careful not to let anything slip about the magical world.

"Thanks Rach, I'm fine though, I'm just _nervous."_ replied Ginny, saying aloud the word that had been ranting through her mind. _I'm nervous._

She was called back to focus by a stage crew guy coming into the dressing room to tell the girls that they had to get onto the stage now.

Ginny tied her ballet shoes one last time, and rushed onstage. She found her place near the front center on the stage, and waited for the curtain to go up. She had been given one of the leading parts for this ballet, which was quite amazing really considering she had never been in a performance before, and had only just started with the company.

The curtain rose, and Ginny started moving as her body and memory told her to do. If you were to ask her what step was next, she couldn't have told you, but she somehow knew. The month of rehearsals was lost on her brain, but her body remembered everything perfectly.

At the end of the performance, Ginny knew she had done well. She hadn't messed up at least, but more than that, she felt accomplished for the first time since she had started. She felt like she had proved that she belonged here, although her git brothers said differently.

She was rushed out into the main entrance hall of the ballet theatre, to greet the fans and investors of the ballet. It was her duty as one of the ballerinas in the show, but she didn't really mind. She was going to catch up with her family backstage in 15 minutes when this whole ordeal was over.

...

Ginny glanced around the large entrance hall. It was a bit gaudy she had always thought. It was decorated and accentuated by gold trimmings, hangings, paintings, everywhere you looked there was something gold, and a few maroon decorations as well.

Now that she thought about it, it resembled her house Griffindor's colors, although it would never be as comfortable and homely as Griffindor was to Ginny. She felt almost unworthy to be standing in that room, it was so fancy and seemed to be trying to show class and wealth, all of which Ginny really didn't have. For Pete's sake, she still lived with her mum! That was only until she made enough money to buy a place of her own though, and from the looks of her salary, she wouldn't have to wait too long.

She walked around a little, saying hello to a few of her friends in the ballet as she passed them. She also made small talk with a few of the investors, all of which took up around 10 minutes. She looked around after finishing a conversation with one investor, and decided that if she snuck out now to meet with her family backstage, no one would notice.

She became excited by the prospect, and spun around quickly to head in the opposite direction, when she collided with what felt like a brick wall.

"Oomph" she let out as she started to fall. _Well that's just brilliant Ginny, you ran into a brick wall! Glad to see you were looking where you were going. You must look like such a spaz! _she thought bitterly to herself.

Before she hit the ground though, a pair of arms reached out and grabbed her around the waist, pulling her up and steadying her on her feet.

She was slightly startled by this whole exchange, and managed to spit out "Thank you so much," to whomever it was the was holding her, before looking up.

"You're welcome," came a laughing reply. Ginny glanced up, for some reason, it seemed as though she had heard this voice somewhere before. _Oh Lord! It's Harry Potter! You ran into bloody Harry Potter! Well that's just brilliant Ginny, way to make a first impression!_

Harry let go of his grip around her waist after making sure that she was safe on her feet. "Not the most graceful ballerina eh?" he asked jokingly. He didn't mean to insult her but the whole incident was a little funny.

Ginny's eyes widened, _how did he know... oh look down stupid. _She was still wearing her leotard of course, it was quite obvious she was in the company.

"Yeah, as soon as I step off the stage I become an elephant or something, I really am clumsy," she replied with a bit of a smile. Always better to make a joke of an embarrassing situation she thought. She took a second to take in Harry's appearance, after all, this was the closest she had ever been to him.

He was very tall, maybe around 6 foot 4 she assumed, and he was clearly very well built. His abs had felt like a brick wall after all when she had run into him. His hair was still as messy as she remembered it to be from her first year, and his eyes were a very startling green. Nope, he was even better than she remembered from first year.

She had always had a crush on him. In fact, when she was young, before Hogwarts, and her mother would tell her the story of Harry Potter, Ginny would make a finishing statement saying she would marry him one day, because he needed someone to love him. As she took him in now, he seemed happier than before, but Ginny could still sense some loneliness in his eyes, and she still thought he was very handsome.

It seemed almost as though Harry was taking in Ginny's appearance as well, _although there's not much to take in,_ Ginny reasoned with herself.

"Hi, um, I'm Ginny," she said trying to ease the awkwardness she felt, besides, she really ought to introduce herself when she ran into someone, it was only polite she reasoned.

"I'm Harry Potter," he replied, hoping that maybe she was a Muggle and wouldn't know him. She was in the Muggle ballet after all, the chances were good.

"Really, I hadn't noticed," Ginny replied with a grin, trying to make a joke out of the situation. She could tell he really didn't want to be fawned over, and really who would under those circumstances?

Harry's eyes widened a little, "Oh, so are you a..."

"Witch," Ginny finished for him, "yeah, I was in my second year of Hogwarts when you... well you know," she finished lamely. "I would show you my wand as proof, but unfortunately, leotards don't leave much space for wand storage," she rambled in an attempt to be friendly and move the conversation on.

Harry seemed very pleased by her reaction though, she wasn't in shock of who he was, and she wasn't making a big deal about what he had done. She seemed to know he didn't like talking about it, much less being famous for it.

"Yeah, sorry but I don't really know anyone that was in that year, I kind of missed it," he grinned a little. Inwardly he was laughing at the comment about the wand.

"Well thank Merlin you did!" exclaimed Ginny.

"Are you new with the ballet company," he asked. This question surprised Ginny a little bit. There was no way he could tell that by looking at her, sure she was clumsy, but that didn't mean she was new. In fact, she would probably be clumsy her whole life no matter how long she danced.

"Um yea, I started about a month ago, this was my first performance. How did you know?"

"I have been to a few performances," Harry said reddening a little. "My friend Hermione loves the ballet, and I buy her tickets for her birthday, and Christmas and such. I didn't remember seeing you here though, in any of the shows that is."

"Are you sure," asked Ginny her smile widening, "or is Harry Potter a closet ballet fan?"

"You caught me, I'm obsessive," he joked. He really liked this girl, she wasn't stuck up even though she was an amazing dancer, in fact she seemed very modest, and she wasn't making Harry out to be a god, but treated him like a person. She was funny too. She definitely seemed different from the other girls Harry met. Maybe he should take a chance and ask her out to talk some more, he thought, she seemed worth the while to get to know, even if just as friends.

"Do you maybe want to go get some coffee?" he asked.

Ginny was once again caught off-guard by his question._ Did Harry Potter honestly just ask me out? He probably only wants to go out with me because I'm not obsessing over him. He isn't interested in me, he just wants to be able to go out like a normal person._

"Sorry, I really can't. My family came to my first performance, and I'm kind of obligated to take them out." She used this as her excuse to get out of the pity date. _You must be crazy, turning down the guy of your dreams. **He's only the guy of my dreams if he wants to take me, Ginny, out. Not me, the normal girl, out.** _

Harry was a little disappointed. It was obvious she was trying to let him down easily. That was a first for him also. This girl was really throwing him for a loop and he was enjoying it. Too bad she turned him down.

"Okay yeah sure, I should have guessed that. Well, congratulations with the show, and uh, good luck with the rest," he said politely.

"Thanks, and thanks for catching me, even if you are the reason I fell," Ginny joked as she waved goodbye and walked backstage.

She was very sad for some reason as she walked away. It felt almost as if she had thrown away the opportunity of a lifetime, but she couldn't go out with Harry just because he saw in her a girl that wasn't impressed just by his name. She continued walking and found her family who appeared to have been waiting for a minute or two for her.

"Hello mum, did you enjoy the show?" Ginny managed to say before her entire family surrounded her in a very large albeit slightly uncomfortable hug. "I'll take that as a yes then shall I?" she said cheekily.

"Ginny dear, you were amazing," wept her mother.

"Yeah, you didn't fall flat on your face once!" Said her brothers Fred and George.

"Congratulations sweety, you were beautiful up there," said her father.

Ginny looked around and noticed Ron wasn't there yet again. He seemed to have been missing a lot of things ever since the war, and Ginny didn't know why. She knew he had a job as an auror, but that didn't make up for the number of times he had to miss out on things.

"Mum, where's Ron?" asked Ginny.

"Well, he had to run tonight, he did see a little of your performance though. He said he will be at the Burrow tomorrow morning, he wants to talk with you." replied her mother with something of a knowing glance at her husband.

"Oh, well alrighty, I guess we should go then before all the restaurants close," said Ginny noticing the time and still feeling obligated to take her family out.

They all went out to a nice restaurant and chatted throughout the night. Ginny only thought of Harry and her missed opportunity a small number of times, if you consider whenever she wasn't talking a smile number. She tried to push it from her mind as she said goodbye to her family later after dinner, and took off to meet her friends from the ballet at a local pub to celebrate.

She was going to forget about him if it was the last thing she did tonight.


	3. Chapter 3

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Author's Note:

Thank you so much to everyone that is reading this! I have been getting such great reviews and well frankly (sniffles) they just warm me soul! I love every single one of you and I promise that at the end of the story (which won't be for a while I hope) I will mention everyone's names! For now though, please keep reading and sending those great reviews!

Also, keep in mind for this chapter that Ginny does not know that Ron helped Harry in the war. She knew that he was involved in the last battle, but she doesn't know that Ron and Harry and Hermione have been best friends since the beginning of school. This will be explained.

Love, Bella

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Ginny did forget about Harry that night. In fact, she forgot just about everything, including her name and address. She had gone to a local pub with a few of the girls in the ballet company after dinner with her family, and after 5 or so beers, her mind was as blank as if it had been erased by a spell.

Luckily, one of the girls with Ginny, a girl named Riley, happened to be a witch as well. In fact, she was the only witch besides Ginny in the ballet company, and they became friends shortly after discovering this. She had been to Ginny's house a couple of times within the last month and so she was able to deposit Ginny safely at the Burrow. Mrs. Weasley helped Riley put Ginny to bed, disappointed in her daughter for getting so carried away.

...

The next morning, Mrs. Weasley was making breakfast when she heard the door open. It seemed a little too early for Ron to come over, but as she glanced at the clock on the wall that told where her family members were, she confirmed that it was in fact Ron. As he walked into the kitchen, Mrs. Weasley immediately hugged him, as she did for all her children.

He had stopped by that morning because he was finally ready to tell Ginny what he had been hiding from her for the past few years. Mrs. Weasley, and the rest of the family in fact, knew all about it, but for some reason Ron had insisted that Ginny not be told. He felt that she was in danger being the youngest and relatively defenseless at the time of the war.

"Ron dear, I'm so glad you are finally opening up to your sister. She has wanted to be closer to you for so long. Now you two can be as close as you ought to be," said Mrs. Weasley, happy that the difficult times of the war were over, and that families were healing again. "I just wish it hadn't taken you so long, it has been 5 years after all!"

"I know mum, but there was still danger, and Ginny only just graduated. I wanted everything to calm down and for her to be ready when I told her, although I admit, she probably could have found out sooner," replied Ron. He had always wanted to share this part of his life with Ginny, but he knew he couldn't until she was ready. The truth was, he had always been overprotective of her because despite all of his brothers, she was his favorite sibling. He regretted having to push her away for so long.

"Oh, by the way mum, I've invited Harry to come over. He has been wanting to see the Burrow for a while now, and I figured he could help to prove to Ginny that I'm telling the truth if she doesn't believe me," said Ron.

"That's fine dear, when do you think he will be arriving?" asked Mrs. Weasley, adding more bacon to the pan for Harry.

The doorbell rang, and Ron went to answer it, shouting back to his mother, "I think that's him now."

He answered the door, and let in his best mate Harry Potter. "Hiya mate, welcome finally to the Burrow," he said enthusiastically, glad to finally be able to share this kind of thing with his friend.

"Thanks," replied Harry. "Glad to finally be here."

"Care for some breakfast? My sister isn't up yet so we have some time to eat," Ron suggested.

"Ron even if there isn't time you manage to eat," Harry joked.

The boys sat down to breakfast and were chatting with Mrs. Weasley who had practically squeezed the life out of Harry when he entered, and welcomed him to what she insisted would always be a home for him.

Suddenly, there was a loud bang heard, like someone colliding with furniture. "BLOODY HELL!" they heard someone scream from upstairs.

Ron grinned and turned to Harry, "That would be my sister, she's not much of a morning person."

Harry laughed a little as he heard the girl mumbling loudly about furniture getting in her way and how bloody awful mornings were as she trumped down the stairs.

"I feel as if my head were bitten off by a bloody dragon," said a girl with fiery red hair, who was now entering the kitchen. Harry's eyes grew wide, it was Ginny, from the night before! She was Ron's little sister?

"Well maybe you shouldn't drink so much that you can't remember where you live, then you won't wake up with such a headache," chided the unsympathetic Mrs. Weasley.

"Ginny, you got drunk!" exclaimed a shocked Ron.

"Don't be such a git Ron," said Ginny before she turned around to look at her brother for the first time that morning. Her eyes grew wide as she noticed her brother was not alone.

"Harry, is that you?" she asked, wondering if maybe her hangover was affecting her vision.

"Hey Ginny, nice to uh... see you again," responded Harry.

"Wait a second, have you guys met?" questioned Ron, utterly confused at the turn the conversation had taken.

"Not really, I ran into Harry, literally, last night and we just chatted for a minute or two after he helped me up." replied Ginny. "But what the hell is he doing here?" she asked suddenly very curious.

"He has something to do with what I came to tell you Ginny, actually a big part," said Ron meekly, not sure if it was a good thing Ginny and Harry knew each other.

"Are you two gay or something?" Ginny teased. She could see Harry and Ron grimace, turn pale, and look at each other in disgust. She cracked up.

"Ginny!" Mrs. Weasley screeched. "Be polite!"

Ginny ignored her mother and looked over at Ron, raising her eyebrows with a smile on her face.

"God no Ginny, this is actually quite serious though, why don't we go into the other room?" Ron said.

Ginny agreed and the two went to sit in the living room, leaving Harry alone with Mrs. Weasley who was attempting to force feed him several large pastries.

Ron started off by explaining to her that he and Harry had been friends since the middle of their first year at Hogwarts. He was also best friends with Hermione Granger. He didn't tell Ginny he was friends with Harry all those years because Mrs. and Mr. Weasley had thought it best not too at the time, saying it would protect Ginny in the future.

They had been right.

When Ginny started school, Ron was in his 6th year, and he knew that things with Voldemort were turning serious. He also knew that Harry was going to have to fight Voldemort soon, and that Ron and Hermione were going to help him. Ron and the rest of his family felt that it would be best if Ginny did not know, because they feared that if she knew Ron was in the war, than she would insist on helping when she obviously was not ready for that.

They were also worried that if the Deatheaters or Voldemort ever heard about Ron's sister, than they would go after her, and use her against Ron. After the war, Ron had become an auror, and Ginny was still in school. There were still a lot of Deatheaters, who would jump at the chance to harm Ginny, just to get back at Ron which would affect Harry in one way or another, and so Ginny was still not told. All in all, the family had felt it best that Ginny not know about Ron's job and that he was in the war, and best friends with Harry Potter because they wanted to protect her.

To Ginny, it seemed like a rather silly way of protecting her. Not telling her who her brother's friends were somehow protected her? Then again, she could see the logic, after all, she was only twelve when the last battle was fought, and chances are, she would have insisted on helping if she knew Ron was such a big part of it, and she most likely would have been killed.

Granted, she could produce a very nasty Bat Bogey Hex at the time, but how many Deatheaters can you fight when all you know is the Bat Bogey, and one or two simple shields? Yeah, with those odds, you're a goner.

Ginny had sat and listened to Ron's story in silence. It wasn't that she didn't believe her brother, he could be rather noble when he wanted to be, but she couldn't get over the fact that her brother was the best friend of the man she had dreamt of marrying, but had no realistic hopes of meeting.

It seemed very surreal, and a little bit ridiculous. Now Harry was only going to see her as Ron's little sister. She found it ironic that Harry was asking her on a date last night, and now he was only going to see her as Ron's little sister, and would not want to date her. The very thought made her sick. Had she really passed up a date with the man of her dreams for such a petty reason? Who cares if he's only interested in a normal night out, he could have gotten to know her, they could have had something. Now she was going to be like a second sister to him! For Pete's sake, her mother was welcoming him into the family! He wouldn't want to date the little sister of his brother for all intents and purposes. It would be like incest for all intents and purposes. _Well okay, maybe that's taking it a bit far, but none the less Ginny, you have missed out on your chance, and now your just going to have to suffer, _she thought to herself.

_Then again, what do you really know about the guy? You know he is brave, smart, ridiculously handsome, and noble. Yes all right, but is he funny, do you share similar interests? What bothers him, or makes him happy? You don't know any of this. You don't really know him at all. It's no big deal. Just get over him. It's no big deal. _She thought to herself as she and Ron walked back towards the kitchen.

She would just get over him, it wasn't like she was in love with him or anything, but she definitely had a crush. She would get over that crush now, and she and Harry could be friends. _It's no big deal, he's not for you, _she mentally repeated to herself.

Yes, she could do this, she would forget about Harry bloody Potter.

She walked into the kitchen and saw Harry grinning at her from his seat at the table.

Bloody hell, this was going to be difficult.


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note: **I love everyone of you, and your reviews make me so happy!

- funny story, I spent so much time writing and reading fanfiction on Sunday, that I didn't get any work done for school and I had to stay home today (Monday) so I didn't fail (it was a big project that I should have been working on, and studying for a test, and notes on a chapter, and at 10:30 at night I realized I couldn't do it all) but instead of working on my work today, I'm on fanfiction again updating for you lovely reviewers! I'm hopeless.

**Timeline: **I just want to clear it up again, Ron and Harry defeated Voldemort their last year (17) now it has been 5 years so those two are 23 years old - Hermione too! Ginny was in her second year of school when Voldemort was killed (12) and after 5 years she is 17. She just recently graduated from Hogwarts, and she got a job immediately with the ballet company - more details on that later. All of her brothers are the same ages they were in the books (they are the same number of years older than Ron than they were in JKR's books). Ginny is the only person whose timeline I changed really, and so she is a lot younger than her brother's now.

If that timeline is still leaving people unsure just message or e-mail me...or review of course, and I will try to clarify.

LOVE Bella

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Harry watched Ginny as she entered the kitchen after her talk with Ron. She seemed paler, and when Harry grinned at her and Ron in welcome, she seemed to get upset, or at least her lovely blue eyes seemed to show that she was upset. The rest of her face seemed to struggle for a minute, but then it settled on a calm look.

Harry had been thinking about the situation while Ron and Ginny were in the other room. Harry hadn't heard much about Ginny over the years, mainly for her own protection, but what he had heard made her sound like some 5 year old girl, not the 17 year old woman she was now. Harry had come over to the Burrow expecting to meet Ron's little sister, but instead he was reintroduced to Ginny, the ballerina.

He was a little upset by this because Mrs. Weasley was insisting that he was a part of the family, and that there would always be a room for him. She had even magically added a hand to her clock while Ron was talking to Ginny, and Harry noticed that the only people who had hands on the clock were family. So it was official, he was a part of the family.

To be honest, he was ecstatic over this aspect. He had always heard about Ron's family, minus Ginny, and he had always wished he could be a part of it. Especially after Sirius, and then Dumbledore, the last family figures he had left died. Now he felt like there were people who cared about him again. He had already met all of Ron's brothers and his father years before. In fact, he was very well aquainted with them all, even helping Fred and George buy their first joke shop. He had only been kept away from Ginny.

Now though, he was going to be her brother of sorts. There was no way he could ask her out again, besides she had already turned him down. Too bad really, because she was definitely the first girl he had actually wanted to take out in a while, maybe since Cho. Most of the other girls he met (those who were witches that is) threw themselves at him, asking him out. More often then not, he said yes just to get them to stop. Ginny had been different though, she was witty and funny, and seemed to not really care what Harry thought of her.

_Well she doesn't want to date you, and she wouldn't now that you are practically a member of the family. Whatever, there will be other girls mate, besides you haven't really known her that long. No big deal. _Harry reasoned with himself. He would just be a brother to her he decided.

That's the mindset he was in while Ron was talking to Ginny in the other room. As soon as they walked into the kitchen though, and Harry saw Ginny again, he knew this was going to be difficult. She really was pretty, he would have said beautiful too, but he didn't want to rub salt in the wound so to say. He smiled at them to show Ginny that he was going to be friendly, and not pursue her or anything like that. That's when he noticed her face get pale and her eyes getting upset. _Maybe she doesn't even want you as a brother, _he thought to himself.

She sat down next to him though and smiled slightly before turning to face Harry and asking, "So you actually put up with Ron for all those years?" she then grinned widely.

Harry grinned a little as well, she was funny. "Well I admit he is a bit of a prat, Hermione will confirm that, but yeah, turns out he can be right handy."

"Hey you two, cut it out!" Ron said indignantly, then his face redenned and he asked, "Hermione doesn't think I'm a prat does she?"

"No more than ususal Ron," replied Harry which seemed to get Ron thinking.

Ginny would have to remember to ask Harry if something was going on between Ron and Hermione later. She looked over at Harry again, yes this might be difficult. At least she wasn't still in that phase where she would get all tongue-tied around boys and run into things when they were near. That phase passed after she had had a boyfriend or two back in Hogwarts. She had had a few boyfriends actually, her brothers claimed it was because she was popular, too popular in fact for her own good. Ginny just thought that the boys were running out of choices, it wasn't the largest school after all.

Ginny was still slightly flustered around Harry though. Normally, if she had just met someone whom she was supposed to consider as a member of the family, she would be telling them stories and jokes to welcome them in her own way. With Harry, she managed to joke around a little, but interesting stories, and prolonged conversation still seemed a little ambitious. She couldn't talk to him for long without glancing over at his face and looking into his very deep green eyes. Then she would lose her train of thought. Yes, it was better to stick to small talk for now.

After another 20 minutes of breakfast and talking and such, Ginny announced that she had to be off, she still had practice.

"What about your hang over dear, do you want me to brew you up any potion to get rid of it?" Mrs. Weasley asked, smiling slightly amused.

"Actually mum, it's not so bad anymore, Ron's news must have shaken it off," she said grinning. "Besides the other girls will be suspicious if I turn up at practice perfectly dandy after last night."

With that she said her goodbyes and left the Burrow. Ron turned to his mother and said "I still can't believe she got that drunk! She's still a baby!"

"Ronald, your sister is not a baby anymore, you telling her the news you have been hiding for her for a while proves that. She can take care of herself, an she was only celebrating. Granted, I don't approve much of it either, but let me assure you, she can handle things on her own, and she most certainly would not like to hear you telling her she's still a baby." ranted the aggravated Mrs. Weasley.

Looking beaten Ron simply nooded his head and muttered "yes ma'am."

Harry sat watching the scene laughing slightly. Ron was stubborn, but even he wouldn't fight Mrs. Weasley. In fact, none of the brothers would, she was a force to be reckoned with.

The boys finished up and apparated over to the Ministry after saying goodbye to Mrs. Weasley. They were right on time as they entered the building and headed down towards the auror department where they worked together. As it turned out, there were no new assignments as of yet, and Harry was left sitting at his desk, while Ron went off in search of Hermione.

Harry reminded himself to tell Ginny of the two of them later, he thought she would get a crack out of it. He put his feet up on his desk and drifted off into a light sleep, dreaming of red hair, and ballet shoes.


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note: **Things are going to get crazy in this chapter...enjoy!

Reviews make the world go round, so help the earth and review my fanfics! :P

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Harry woke up a few hours later with strange images of red dancing through his mind. Shaking his head a little he glanced at the clock noticing it was nearly 5 o'clock.

_Well I haven't had anything to do today, might as well take off early, _he thought happily to himself as he left his office and apparated home.

He entered his small flat and took account of everything. He shared an apartment with Ron, and although the layout was nice enough, it was always messy. The only person that made an effort to clean it up, or at least get the boys to clean it was Hermione. Her frequent visits were always filled with rantings about how cleanliness was important.

Harry called out but noticed that Ron wasn't home. _Must be a work still, poor man, _Harry thought. He went into the kitchen and decided to heat up a can of soup. Normally he would have simply used magic to heat the soup and such, but today he felt like taking his time, and as he turned the stove on low, and poured in the canned liquid, he went into his bedroom to change and wait for his meal to heat.

Two minutes later he heard a tapping on his window. He looked up and noticed a Ministry owl waiting on the window ledge. _Dammit, probably shouldn't have left work early._

He opened the window and took the note from the bird, feeding him a treat as he left. He glanced at the note and groaned.

**Potter,**

**Urgent business. Sorry to make you work after hours but a group of deatheaters have been tracked down, and we need you to come catch them. Please meet me at the office in 5 minutes for briefing.**

**-Kingsley**

Just wonderful, now he was going to have to work! Oh, well, it wasn't like he was tired after that long nap today. He changed back into his work clothes and apparated out of the apartment, forgetting completely about the soup and the burning stove.

...

Ron and Harry had caught the deatheater group moving westward into Spain, and after a congratulatory drink at a local pub, they made their way home and around one in morning.

As they walked to their apartment building, they noticed a crowd of people and a bunch of big red trucks sitting outside. They were curious as to what the firetrucks, as Harry called them, were doing there so late at night.

They ran up the stairs following a crowd and stood outside of an apartment that was clearly on fire within. They were slightly disoriented and were extremely confused when a little old lady who was their neighbor approached them and asked, "Excuse me boys, but isn't this your apartment?"

They looked around, "Bloody hell Harry, this is our floor! That's our apartment!" Ron shouted.

Harry quickly realised that he was right, and the two boys attempted to run into their apartment, but they were blocked by Muggle firemen.

"Sorry boys, but you can't come in here." One fireman said.

"Sir, that's our apartment, we need to get in there," said Harry panicked.

"Oh, well alright, we put out the flames half an hour ago so I guess you should come inspect the damage." The fireman replied.

He led them into the flat making sure they watched their step, some of the floorboards had become weak from the fire. Harry and Ron looked around slightly shocked. The main walls of the flat had not been affected which was good because the rest of the building would be fine, but their flat was completely burned inside. All of their possessions were ruined, and everything carried a layer of back soot if it wasn't already destroyed.

"What happened?" asked Ron still shell shocked.

"Well, it looks like the stove was left on, that's what we determined to be the source of the fire anyway. We think that the flames caught onto a napkin or towel or something that was left too close, but we can't be sure because all that's left near the stove are ashes. Did either of you boys leave the stove on tonight?" the fireman asked.

"Bloody hell," muttered Harry, "Ron it's my fault, I was making soup and I must have left the stove on when I went to the Minis... I mean work." Harry finished glancing at the fireman.

"Damn right you left the stove on Harry! Look at this place!" shouted Ron. He then leaned in closed and muttered a little, "Why were you even using the stove, your wand works perfectly fine too you prat!"

"Ron, I'm so sorry, I wasn't thinking and then I had to leave so quickly..." Harry trailed off. "Ron, we can have this place fixed immediately," he glanced at his wand hidden in his pocket for emphasis.

"Harry, we can't just fix the place overnight with a spell, the whole neighborhood is here, they will get suspicious if our apartment is suddenly back to normal!" Ron said as soon as the fireman was out of ear shot.

Damn Ron was right, well they would just have to fix it gradually overtime as if they were Muggles, otherwise the Muggles would get suspicious, and then they would have to obliviate everybody's memory, and it would just be a mess, Harry thought.

"We can stay at the Burrow for the time being," Ron said. "Mum will love having you over finally, and you can have your own room, what with all the extras since my brothers moved out."

"That sounds like a good idea, besides it could be fun," Harry said. The more he thought about it, the better it sounded. He could spend time with Ginny now, she lived at the Burrow too right? Now they could get to know each other... as friends. Yep, just as friends, that was what Harry was determined to keep it as. A friendly relationship. Two peas in a pod, comrades, amigos. _Friends. _

Unless of course she didn't want to be friends, in which case he would back off. Then again, she was friendly at breakfast, and there was no reason for her to not want to be his friend. Right?

Harry and Ron walked into their bedrooms to pack whatever had survived the fire. Luckily, their rooms hadn't been affected too badly considering they were in the back of the apartment and the fire only really reached the front rooms. After a last glance around their ruined flat, they grabbed their luggage and apparated to the Burrow.

...

Ginny sat sitting at the kitchen table in the Burrow at two in the morning drinking hot chocolate. Her feet hurt like hell from practice that day, and she couldn't sleep.

Was it even possible to not be able to sleep from aching feet, she wondered. _Oh yeah, it was most definitely possible._

She was cleaning out her mug and putting it away when she heard two loud pops coming from outside, sounding as though someone had just apparated there.

She walked tenderly to the front door on her heels (the only part of her foot that didn't hurt) and swung open the door, wand in hand, to reveal Harry and Ron, with luggage in hand.

Ron was holding his wand too, ready it seemed to perform the "alohamora" charm to get in. "Hey thanks Gin," he said, "What are you doing up so late?" he asked, coming into the hall with luggage and Harry in tow.

"Uh, couldn't sleep. I have a better question though, what the hell are you doing here with all of that luggage? Now is hardly the time for a luggage party!" Ginny said sarcastically.

Ron ignored the sarcasm and replied "Well, Harry here had a craving for soup, but he left the stove on and left the apartment... stupid prat! A fire started and the whole apartment is ruined! We are going to stay here for a couple of months, do you think mum will mind?"

"Are you kidding, mum will almost be jumping for joy when she hears your apartment is ruined, she loves having people stay here," Ginny said. "Why can't you just fix the flat with your wands though?"

"We would, but too many Muggles saw the damage, the nosy gits," Harry said, speaking up for the first time since arriving. "They would get suspicious if we moved back in tomorrow and everything was just dandy. Besides you need Ministry permission to obliviate their memories."

Ginny snickered, "Yeah, that's true. Well then, goodnight boys, I'm exhausted. See you in the morning"

The boys waved goodnight to Ginny and sorted out which room Harry would be sleeping in.

It didn't occur to Ginny until she was lying on her bed that Harry and she would be living in the same house! _Living in the same proximity, under one roof. Seeing each other all the time! _This realization was both good and bad to Ginny. It was good because she was determined to become Harry's friend, it was bad though, because she wanted much more, but couldn't have it. She would just have to settle with friends.

_This is going to be an interesting couple of months, _she thought to herself as she finally fell asleep, dreaming of green eyes and a lightning shaped scar.


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note: **Well, I had to return to school today, so instead of two updates, I'm afraid all you lovely readers will have to settle for one today. Somehow I think you will manage though! I want to thank once again everyone that has read this story so far, and those in particular who have reviewed. I seem to get so many e-mails telling me people have added this story to their favorite's list, or on story alert or whatever the case may be, yet not everyone reviews! Trust me, I'm not one to judge, after all I can't tell you how many stories I have loved but haven't reviewed for. Please humor me though, if you like the story review, and if you don't like the story... well I suppose you should review as well, but be kind! I love you all, and I hope you like this chapter!

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Harry and Ron decided that Harry would sleep in Bill's old room for the next couple of months. Bill was after all married, and in fact had recently had a baby girl, so there was little chance of him returning to the Burrow demanding to have his old room back.

Harry had tossed and turned on his bed all night, drifting between thoughts of the fire, thoughts of the Burrow, and light dreams involving a familiar girl with red hair. He woke up at around ten on Saturday morning, after having finally fallen asleep at around four that morning. He left his bedroom, planning to head downstairs for breakfast as the smell of bacon and biscuits slowly drafted into the hallway.

The night before, he had gone into his temporary bedroom so late that he hadn't really noticed where it was, and which rooms surrounded it. As he opened his door, he noticed that the hallway his room was attached to had only two other doors, one of which leading to a bathroom. He presumed that the other door was another bedroom, and was only beginning to wonder whose it was when the handle started turning.

_That's funny, _Harry thought to himself, _I thought Ron said his bedroom was a floor up from mine, not across the hall._ Harry's thoughts went blank as the small frame of Ginny stepped out of the bedroom. _Merlin! My room is right across the hall from hers! _

Ginny looked up, remembering that she tended to trip if she stared at her feet while walking. Her eyes instantly became glued to a certain raven haired man standing across the hallway looking at her with a surprised expression.

"Oy!" Ginny uttered in surprise, as she lost her balance and tripped to the floor. Apparently she tended to trip when she was near Harry as well, _definitely not a good habit, _Ginny thought bitterly to herself, as Harry rushed across the few feet of hallway to help her up.

"Um, thanks. Sorry I was just a little shocked to see you so early," Ginny muttered. "I guess I forgot you were staying here." The truth was she had not forgotten, in fact, it was all she had thought about, even in her dreams. She had not expected Harry to be right across the hallway from her though, there were after all four other empty, albeit small bedrooms for him to have. Bill's old room was not necessarily the most obvious choice of rooms.

"It was my fault, I was just standing here, I must have looked a little frightening," Harry said kindly. _Ginny looks awfully cute in the morning, _Harry thought to himself as he looked at her. Her hair was slightly ruffled, whether it was from sleeping or falling he couldn't tell, and she was wearing a thin nightgown that reached the middle of her thigh. _In fact, she looks kind of sexy, _he thought, immediately wishing he hadn't. _Stop looking at her like that! She's your best mate's sister, and your friend! You can't take advantage of this situation! _he reprimanded himself.

Ginny noticed Harry giving her an odd look, and took a step back from him, thinking to herself that her breath must be horrible or something. Plus her hair was always a mess in the morning. "I have to go to the bathroom Harry, I guess I'll see you down at breakfast in a few minutes," Ginny said as she made her way to the bathroom near the end of the hall.

"Right see you in a few then," Harry murmured back. He made his way down the creaky staircase at the opposite end of the hall from the bathroom, and entered the kitchen, smiling when he got a close up smell of everything that was cooking.

"Morning Mrs. Weasley," Harry said, noticing that Mrs. Weasley wasn't shocked at seeing him in the Burrow first thing in the morning, in pajamas no less.

"Good morning dear, oh, and please call me Molly," said the Weasley matriarch, trying to make Harry feel like the family he was, but not wanting to make him uncomfortable by insisting he call her "Mum". "I saw you were here from your hand on the clock, Ron too, but I'm wondering, why are you here when you have your perfectly good apartment... not that I'm complaining of course."

Harry looked up at the clock on the kitchen wall, and sure enough, both his and Ron's hands were pointing towards "The Burrow". "Ah, well, you see Molly," Harry said blushing a little at using her first name, but noting that Mrs. Weasley seemed pleased, "there was sort of a... well what I mean is that... basically, I accidentally set fire to our apartment, and the whole place is in shambles," rambled Harry, somewhat embarrassed by the whole situation and his own stupidity.

"Ron and I got back from an assignment late last night and found the Muggle fire department, and almost all of our neighbors, outside of our apartment where inside everything was burnt or covered in soot. We would have fixed everything by magic, but too many Muggles saw the damage, and we were afraid they would get suspicious if everything was back to normal by tomorrow, so Ron said we could stay here for a few months while we fixed the place manually. Of course, if you'd prefer, I can always find another place to stay, I don't want to cause any trouble," Harry said, running out of breath.

At this point Mrs. Weasley rushed to Harry and gave him a hug. "Harry dear, like I said yesterday, you are always welcome here, and I insist that you stay as long as you like. The Burrow will always be a welcoming home for you." She noticed Harry was getting a little teary, but clearly trying to hold it off, so she gave him one last squeeze and went back to the stove where the bacon was just finishing cooking.

Merely seconds later, Ron emerged from the staircase, not bothering to stifle a big yawn as he rubbed his eyes. "Morning mum," he mumbled, almost incoherently as he sat down at the table.

"I s'pose Harry's told you all 'bout our apartment then, d'you mind if we stayed here for a few months?" Ron lazily asked his mother.

"No dear, like I said to Harry, you two are more than welcome, besides I'm sure Ginny will appreciate the company." Mrs. Weasley said giving a little wink in Harry's direction, although Harry wasn't altogether sure why.

The truth was, Mrs. Weasley knew her daughter better than anyone, and she had seen Ginny's reaction to Harry the previous morning, knowing that Ginny had a crush on Harry for years. She would personally love for Harry and Ginny to get together, although she considered it something of a dream really, after all, Harry and Ginny seemed more likely to become good friends.

After a few minutes of comfortable silence between the three people in the kitchen, they heard light footsteps on the staircase. Ginny entered the room seconds after, kissing her mother on the cheek before grabbing a plate and sitting at the table across from Harry. "Morning all," she said cheerily. She had decided whilst in the bathroom to make this a good day. She didn't have rehearsal with the ballet company, so she was already off to a good start.

"Mor'ing," Ron managed to say in between bites.

"Honestly Ron, must you always eat like a zoo animal, or is it just when I'm around?" Ginny asked, pretending to shake her head solemnly.

Harry laughed quietly at this comment while Ron looked up from his plate indignant. He swallowed and replied "I'm a growing man, I need my nourishment woman, honestly!"

"If you really needed this much nourishment than you would be a giant, I don't know where you keep all that food!" exclaimed Ginny.

The siblings continued to joke around with one another, along with Harry, until they had all finished breakfast. Seeing as it was a weekend, and none of them had to work, they decided to play Quidditch out on the pitch in the backyard.

Ron had never really seen Ginny play, especially because he was so busy with the war at the time when she was the star of the Gryffindor team, and he along with Harry were eager to see what she could do now. They decided to split up, with Harry and Ginny both taking turns to try to score past Ron, who always played Goalkeeper. Ginny went first, and as she swooped through the air, holding the Quaffle tightly in her arms, Harry watched amazed. _She's spectacular! Bloody brilliant! _He wished she could have been on the team when he was in school.

He watched as she neared the goal, coming closer but a little too high, and held his breath as she spun around upside down on her broom and threw the Quaffle into the goalpost past Ron. Ron didn't know what hit him, and was still staring at Ginny in shock as she flew over towards Harry and tossed him the Quaffle she had retrieved. "You're up," she said pleasantly, looking at her nails as though nothing had happened.

Harry was still a little surprised himself. That play had been bloody brilliant and it looked like she was just warming up. Harry noticed that Ron kept glancing at her, almost in disbelief that she had scored past him, something that she had never been able to do as a child, even when Ron was a horrible player himself. Ron's distracted mind was what allowed Harry to get the Quaffle past him, laughing as Ron gave him an incredulous look. Harry never really scored on Ron that often, but he had to admit he enjoyed it.

The game continued on for the next two hours. Ginny continued to impress the boys, using move after move, and scoring point after point. She only missed one or two shots, and it was clear to the three as they walked towards the house who the winner had been.

Ginny was enjoying herself. She had managed to not make a fool of herself out on the Quidditch pitch in front of Harry, and had actually seemed to impress him. Things were definitely looking up, and she was glad that she was becoming friends with Harry. They really did get along well as friends, laughing and joking as though they had known each other forever.

As they were walking up to the back door of the house, an owl swooped down, dropping a letter on Ron's head.

"Oy! Bloody dumb bird, couldn't you have waited until I took the letter from you?" Ron muttered as he picked up the letter that had fallen from his head to the ground. Ginny watched the owl fly off, not even waiting for a treat as owls normally do, and she was curious as to whose owl it was, she had never seen it before.

"Oh, Harry, the letter's from Hermione! She says she wants to stop by sometime and meet Ginny now that she knows," Ron nodded his head towards Ginny indicating that he was talking about her. "She says to owl her back when it's a good time, but with a different owl because she had to borrow some Ministry owl to deliver this letter."

Ginny could tell Ron was clearly excited at the idea of having Hermione at the Burrow. Ginny was excited too, Harry had told her earlier that Hermione was his and Ron's other best friend. She had helped them throughout the war a lot, and she was bloody brilliant. Harry also blushed and told her that back in school, they were called the "Golden Trio," but only by the years nearest them.

Yes, Ginny was definitely excited to meet Hermione. She had a very strong feeling that they would get along just great. She also remembered Ron's reaction at breakfast when Harry said Hermione thought Ron was a prat. As Ron walked into the house obsessed with finding paper, a quill, and an owl, Ginny turned to Harry.

"Harry, is there something going on between Ron and Hermione?" she asked.

Harry started to grin, "Well, define something. There has been something going on between those two since first year, they just haven't realized it. To tell you the truth, they used to not be able to be in the same room with one another for too long because they would argue all the time. They still do argue actually, but ever since the war they seem to appreciate each other a lot more. They have always had a weird relationship though, and they had always cared about each others opinions a little more than they cared about anyone else's. I think they will eventually end up together."

"I thought it might be something along those lines," said a smiling Ginny. "Ron seemed to get slightly flustered every time her name was mentioned."

"Yeah, just wait until you see the two of them together, Ron makes an arse out of himself sometimes in front of her," Harry said laughing.

Harry and Ginny walked into the kitchen of the Burrow through the backdoor and were just about to sit down at the table with a glass of lemonade in hand when Ron came running into the room.

"I've just owled Hermione back. Hopefully she will be coming over for dinner, which Mum says will be in a couple of hours," Ron said panting slightly, clearly excited.

"That's great Ron, I'm really excited to meet her," Ginny said, trying not to crack up at the expression on Ron's face that reminded her of an eager puppy. She failed when she glanced over at Harry and saw he was laughing at Ron as well.

"What are you laughing at?" demanded a very confused Ron. This made Harry and Ginny laugh harder. They eventually calmed down several minutes later, and the three of them split up, Ginny to go take a shower, Harry and Ron to help Mrs. Weasley clean the Burrow a little.

Within an hour and a half, the Burrow, and everyone in it were clean and anxiously awaiting the arrival of Hermione.


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note: **Once again, thanks to all of the readers. I love you a million times over, as previously mentioned, but heck, if you want to hear it again, then I will tell you! I love you all!

**mcbabe586, Pooky333, and anyone else who may have the same concern**: I wanted to keep it a secret a little longer, but I guess that's a little dumb considering this fanfic is mainly about Ginny and Harry; yes they will get together soon! I promise, they are meant for each other and will get over the silly roadblocks soon, but I want to keep them stewing a little while longer! (And to anyone that wants Harry and Ginny to be a surprise... oops! Well just pretend that I didn't just say it... go on pretend. The way they get together can be a surprise at any rate!)

Keep on reading! Do like they teach you in schools; D.E.A.R my fanfic (drop everything and read (my fanfic) for those who haven't heard this)

**ALSO: **I'm so sorry that this has taken a while to post; school got crazy, and my horses needed more attention, but I promise, I am completely yours now dear readers. Updates will be coming more frequently now! Don't lose faith in me!

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At quarter to six, the Burrow and it's inhabitants were all immaculately clean, and awaiting the arrival of Hermione Granger. Ginny was sitting on the edge of her chair in the kitchen, anxious to meet Hermione after forcing various details about her out of Harry. He had told her about the war with Voldemort, and about everything Hermione had done to help defeat him. Ginny also knew how Hermione was best friends with both Ron and Harry, so it seemed natural that Ginny would like her as well.

Ginny's head turned towards the front door as she heard a loud _pop _come from that direction. She assumed that it would be Hermione apparating to the Burrow, and she jumped from her seat and sprinted towards the door, foolishly determined to be the person to greet Hermione into the house.

She pulled open the front door and grinned widely in welcoming, blurting out in her excitement, "Hi, I'm Ginn... oh hello dad." She said disappointed, as her father walked into the front room, returning from work.

"Hello Ginny dear, glad you missed me so much today," her father teased, walking into the kitchen to greet his wife. He was taking Mrs. Weasley out to dinner that night, but unfortunately was running late from work. Ginny heard him tell his wife that he would go change and be right back down.

Ginny walked back into the kitchen, and was about to sit down when she heard another _pop _coming from outside the front door. This time she knew it had to be Hermione, and she was about to charge to the front door when she felt herself being tugged into a chair. She struggled to stand up, still desperately wanting to be the one to answer the door but she couldn't stand.

"Sorry Ginny, but you practically broke the door down letting dad in, I don't want you to scare Hermione before she even gets inside," Ron said over his shoulder as he walked nonchalantly to the door. Ginny could feel the bonds of the restraining spell Ron had cast on her, and muttered darkly under her breath about stunning him when she got a hold of her wand.

Harry laughed quietly at this and was just releasing her from her bonds as a bushy hair girl walked into the kitchen, led by Ron. Ron's face dropped as he saw Ginny loose from the spell, realizing that she would probably hex him now if he annoyed her again, but luckily Ginny was distracted by the newcomer in the kitchen.

Ginny looked into the face of the girl she assumed to be Hermione, and felt something very familiar, almost like she had met her before. Hermione turned towards Ginny with a grin and said "Hello, I'm Hermione Granger. You're Ginny right?"

Ginny nodded with a smile and replied, "Yeah, it's great to finally meet you, although I can't say I have heard that much about you before today," sending a glare over towards Ron as she said this. "You know, it seems as though I have met you somewhere before though, do you recognize me at all?" she asked.

Hermione looked at her closely, trying to recognize her without being rude. "I do recognize you, but I can't think of where we would have met. Maybe Hogwarts?"

Ginny thought back to her Hogwarts years. She wouldn't have met her past her third year, because they had graduated by then, and the trio didn't attend their last year of school (Ginny's second year) so chances were she didn't meet her then either. She focused on her first year, and suddenly, as a single memory entered her mind, looked up brightly at Hermione.

"Yes, now that you mention it, I think we did. We met in one of the lavatories near the D.A.D.A. classroom!" Ginny said. She could see Harry and Ron giving each other weird looks, and Hermione didn't quite seem to recall the occasion. _Well of course not stupid, she doesn't remember every girl she sees in the lavatory. _

"What I mean is, I was in one of the stalls one afternoon crying. My first boyfriend had broken up with me, and I guess I was just feeling miserable that day. You found me there during lunch, and you helped me clean up, and made me feel a lot better." Ginny said.

Hermione's eyes widened in realization. "Oh, yes I remember! I hope you felt better after that, I tried looking for you that evening, but I didn't make it to dinner, I had to study in the library."

"Yes, I was fine after we talked. I suppose I was just having a crappy day, but it really helped to talk with you about it. I wanted to thank you for it, but I don't remember seeing you much afterwards."

"It was no problem, I was just glad to help that day," Hermione said kindly.

"Wait a minute," Ron interrupted, "Do you mean to tell me Ginny, that you have gone out with_...boys__?"_

"As opposed to girls Ron, yes, I find I prefer boys," Ginny said sarcastically. "In fact I have dated many boys!" Ginny finished, rather insulted and annoyed by her overprotective brother.

"But you said you were only in your first year when you two met!!" Ron continued, ignoring Ginny's sarcastic remark.

"Yes Ron, I had two boyfriends my first year, so what?" Ginny asked, slowly getting angrier.

"Two!? Ginny, you were just a baby then! How many did you have after that?" Ron demanded.

"Ronald, if you think that I am going to tell you the details of my love life then you are sadly mistaken," Ginny said, her voice gaining in volume.

Everyone in the kitchen could see a light go off in Ron's head as Ginny said love life.

"Ginny, have you ever...snogged any of your boyfriends?!" Ron asked hesitantly, knowing that Ginny would be mad. He couldn't help it though, he was protective of her and didn't want to think of anyone kissing his baby sister.

"For Merlin's sake Ron! I'm not a nun! Not that it is any of your business, but yes, I have snogged almost every one of my boyfriends!! Maybe you should try it sometime instead of being a prat and invading everyone elses personal life!" Ginny shouted.

Mrs. Weasley had just walked back into the kitchen after changing upstairs, and she quickly stepped between the two siblings, knowing full well where this argument could lead. She was certainly not in the mood to deal with repairing the kitchen after a duel between her two youngest children.

"Ronald and Ginerva, you know this is no way to behave in front of Harry! Now, set the table and get ready for Hermione to arrive." She commanded, not noticing that Hermione was already in the room.

"Um, mum," Ginny said, pointing to the corner of the kitchen occupied by Hermione and Harry, who had backed off during the fight. Mrs. Weasley turned to face them, taking Ginny's clue, and upon noticing Hermione, bounded over to her and enclosed her in a bear hug.

"Oh, Hermione dear, it's so wonderful to see you again! I haven't seen you since I visited Ron and Harry's apartment! How have you been dear?" she asked while still squeezing Hermione in a death hug.

"She's been a lot better than she will be in a few minutes mum if you don't let her breath soon," Ginny said sarcastically, somewhat annoyed that her mother knew Hermione and Harry so well but she had been left in the dark all these years. Mrs. Weasley glared at Ginny before releasing Hermione, apologizing quietly before smiling.

"Well dears, Mr. Weasley and I are going out to eat tonight, there's lasagna in the oven that can come out in 5 minutes, and anything else you need should be here. We won't be back until late, but you can all handle yourselves. Have fun!" she called over her shoulder as she and Mr. Weasley apparated out of the Burrow.

The four remaining in the kitchen set to work on getting dinner out. They were all chatting casually about the trio's work at the Ministry, and Hermione was just beginning to ask Ginny what she did for a living.

Harry remembered how he met Ginny when Hermione asked her what she did, and he realized that Hermione had seen Ginny before, besides the bathroom incident at Hogwarts. He cleared his throat and said, "Actually Hermione, I should have mentioned it earlier, but, remember a few night's ago when I took you to the ballet for your birthday?"

Hermione nodded, and Harry saw that Ginny's eyes lit up, remembering what Harry had told her when they met. Harry continued, "Well, uh, Ginny is in that ballet company. The night we went was her first performance."

Hermione turned to face Ginny in excitement. "I knew I recognized you from somewhere else! I remember seeing a girl with red hair in the ballet! You were absolutely amazing! You were so beautiful and graceful!" she blabbered on. She had always been a big fan of ballet and enjoyed watching it, although she herself could never be able to do it.

Ginny blushed a little at Hermione's comment. Actually, it was a pretty deep red that she blushed, but for a Weasley, it was considered a small blush. "Thank you. I met Harry that night accidentally and he mentioned bringing you. To tell you the truth, I thought he was lying!" she giggled at her last sentence remembering how she had teased Harry.

"What?! You thought I made it up?! Ginny!" Harry looked at her accusingly, but with a small smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

Ginny simply turned her eyes downward and pretended to be full of shame. "Gosh Harry, I'm so dreadfully sorry! I should have believed you! I promise I will never again doubt you!" she continued, rolling her eyes and making gagging noises.

Soon, everyone in the kitchen was clutching their sides laughing. They sat at the table for hours telling stories and jokes as though all four of them had been friends forever, including Ginny. In fact, Harry was applauding himself for establishing a friendship with Ginny, even if that's all that there could be between the two of them. He would willingly tell anyone who asked, that they were good friends.

Only Hermione noticed the look of longing in Harry's eyes every time he looked at Ginny.


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Note: **Once again, I have to thank all of my readers. Vigilance! I was getting worried that I was losing people's interest, but I have planned the outline more carefully and I like where it's going.

**Phx. tears - **I have to agree with your review. I hadn't payed much attention to how old Ginny would be in first year when I said she had boyfriends; I was more focused on getting the time line right with Hermione (they needed to meet while Hermione was still at school, and not her last year because they were searching for Horcruxes then). You are right though, 11 years old is a little young to have a boyfriend. I think, to make the story work, we will have to assume that her relationship with the boys when she was younger was completely innocent, and that they just called it going out. We used to do that in my school, if you had a crush on a boy and they thought you were cute, you would say you were "dating", but obviously it doesn't mean anything. Same theory applies to this. If there are any more questions on this particular topic just e-mail me or review again.

Bella

* * *

Hermione had spent the rest of the night trying to watch Harry for signs of a possible attraction he might have towards Ginny. She knew Harry well enough to be able to tell when he liked a girl, and although he didn't show it consistently, she noticed a sparkle in his eye every so often when he talked directly to Ginny, or when she laughed.

At the same time, Ginny was preoccupied with watching Hermione and Ron together. Harry had been right in saying that Ron made an arse of himself sometimes in front of Hermione. Granted, he wasn't constantly tripping over his own words or blushing whenever he looked at her, but once or twice, when talking only to her, he would stutter a little and turn a light shade of pink.

Whenever he did this, Ginny was careful to look at Hermione and note her reaction. Most times, she would just smile slightly, as if she were aware of the power she had over Ron, and enjoyed it. Ginny caught her looking at Harry an awful lot as well, although not in the same way she looked at Ron. It seemed as though she were evaluating him whenever Ginny caught her, and for some reason, it made Ginny slightly uneasy.

The four were making plans for the next day, Sunday, deciding that they would spend it together so that Ginny could get to know everyone better, excluding Ron of course, although their relationship could definitely stand for improvement after all the secrets that were between them previously. They decided to go to Diagon Alley and look through the shops, and later get lunch.

After deciding on their plans and cleaning the kitchen, they split up, heading for bed (and Hermione for her home) to get a good night's rest. Ginny and Harry stood in the hallway separating their bedrooms for a few moments before going to their respective rooms. They were still laughing about an incident that had occurred during dinner, when Ginny had placed her elbow into a butter dish in the middle of a conversation. Harry had made some crack about etiquette and whatnot at the time, and he apparently found the whole situation funny, secretly finding it endearing that Ginny was a little clumsy.

In reality, Ginny was not simply clumsy. She had been in the middle of a serious conversation with Harry about Dumbledore's accomplishments and the benefits he made towards the wizarding race, when she found herself getting lost in Harry's emerald colored eyes. She had almost seen her reflection clearly at the time, and was so entranced by the gorgeous green color, that she had placed her elbow straight into the butter without even realizing it!

Of course she blamed it on her natural clumsiness, and kept the real reason to herself.

Now she stood in the hallway, looking once again into Harry's deep set eyes. The conversation paused and for an almost awkward moment, the two stood gazing at one another.

Ginny then cleared her throat, and said goodnight to Harry, wanting desperately to kiss him on the cheek, but knowing not to push her limits. She went into her room and hopped into bed after changing into her pj's. She wasn't very tired, but she tried her best to fall asleep, closing her eyes and laying down. She breathed in and out deeply, focusing on relaxing individual parts of her body.The exercise wasn't working much, as she was still very awake, mostly with excitement about the next day. Eventually though, she fell asleep.

...

The next morning welcomed Ginny with a burst of sunshine, and obnoxiously cheerful birds chirping outside of her window. Deciding to make the most of the sun, she slowly got up from her bed, and crossed her room to sit at her window seat overlooking the front yard.

She loved having a window seat in her room, and had actually chosen her room when she was a little girl for the sole purpose of the seat. She would sit there for hours when she was younger, reading, drawing, and eventually writing letters to her brothers while they were away at Hogwarts. She wouldn't admit it now that they all drove her crazy, but she had hated having to watch all of her dearly beloved brothers leave her, one by one, to go to school. She often felt abandoned, and would continuously write them, hoping that one day she would get a reply from them that told her she too could come to Hogwarts. That letter did not come for a few years though, and her brothers were certainly not the ones to send it.

As Ginny sat there now, overlooking the yard and soaking in the sun rays that made their way through her window onto her skin, she heard a quiet knock on her door. She looked up surprised. Normally, her mother's knock was louder, and Ron would just shout her name before barging in. A quiet knock was something she was rather unaccustomed to. She called out "Come in," to whoever was at the door, enjoying the sun too much to get up and open it herself.

Harry entered Ginny's room. His eyes had to adjust to the amount of light that was in her room after entering from the considerably dark hallway. Once he was no longer blinded, he focused in on the room, trying to find Ginny.

Ron had been in the shower, and Mrs. Weasley had sent Harry up to wake Ginny, to tell her that Hermione would arrive soon to go to Diagon Alley.

Harry finally spotted Ginny sitting on the opposite side of the room than the door was on. She was basked in the light coming from the rather large window, and Harry noted subconsciouslythat she looked beautiful, with the light making her hair glow vibrantly, and beams of light shining from behind the top of her head, looking like a halo. Her face seemed to be glowing in the light with her pale skin looking luminous and unmarred, although Harry could distinctly make out the bright freckles dusting her nose and cheeks. He gazed at her entranced in her beauty without even realizing it.

Ginny was feeling slightly awkward, dressed in her PJ's, and having Harry standing in her door, seeming to be deep in thought. She cleared her throat gently, in an attempt to bring Harry back to attention, and she noticed that he was pulled almost violently from his thoughts.

"Morning Harry, what's up?" she asked cheerfully.

"Oh, uh, sorry, morning Ginny. Your mum sent me up to wake you, but I guess I'll just tell you instead that Hermione will be here soon for Diagon Alley." Harry said, finally focusing on the present.

"Oh, okay. Thanks Harry. I think I'll just take a quick shower then." Ginny replied, standing up to grab a towel and bathrobe from a hook in her closet.

Harry took this as his cue to leave, and he went downstairs to wait for Ginny, Ron, and Hermione.

...

When Hermione eventually arrived, and Ron and Ginny had emerged from the showers and eaten a quick breakfast, the four walked outside of the Burrow to apparate to Diagon Alley. Ginny had originally suggested they Floo there, but Harry had been dead-set against it, and from what Ginny could gather, he did not have good experience with Floo Travel.

Regardless, they arrived at around 11 o'clock, and immediately set off towards Fred and George's joke shop. The shop had expanded in a short amount of time, and Fred and George already had three stores! One in Hogsmeade, the original location, one in Diagon Alley, and another in a wizard shopping centre in France, that very closely resembled Diagon Alley.

Fred and George preferred to work in Diagon Alley at this time of year, because it was the most crowded of the three locations and often needed the most work. The four coming from the Burrow decided to stop in and say hi. They entered the shop which wasn't overly crowded, and found George sitting at the counter off to the left.

"Well look who it is, my dear brother and sister, and Miss Granger and Mr. Potter too! Well now, can't say I've seen the four of you together before!" George said with a certain light in his eyes. "I take it Ron that you have finally told Ginny about your friends. Not a moment too soon either, you certainly took your time!" George continued.

"Your right about that," Ginny mumbled, earning a smile from Harry and Hermione, but a glare from Ron. Ron turned towards George and replied, "You know why I didn't George, cut it out."

"Ooh, careful little brother, we musn't get our panties in a bunch now." George mocked.

Ron lightened up when he realized his older brother was only joking, and they continued to chat, talking about recent events and whatnot. George told them that Fred was out with Angelina, his fiancee, and would not be back until later in the afternoon. At this, the four decided that they would head over towards Flourish and Botts to look for some new books.

The afternoon passed in much the same way, with different trips into various stores, and laughing, joking and talking amongst the four friends. They decided at around 12:30 that they would stop in at Madame Malkin's for some new robes, and then head towards the pub for lunch.

Hermione and Ginny headed towards the girl's side of the shop while Ron and Harry drifted over towards the men's section, looking around aimlessly at the various robes.

Hermione and Ginny wandered around admiring the different robes and laughing at a few ridiculous ones. They were both a little glad that the boys weren't with them at the moment, mainly because they discovered that day that they got along very well with one another. They both had the kind of personality that the other looked for in a friend, not to mention Hermione had never had a good friend that was a girl before. She was enjoying being able to shop for clothes with someone who liked it as well.

Throughout the say, Hermione had been watching Harry and Ginny together to determine if there was something going on. Aside from the occasional glance between the two, she didn't notice anything in particular. She was still convinced however, that Harry felt something for Ginny. It was the way he talked to her, gently and focused, as though she were the only person he was with.

Hermione didn't want to push it though by confronting Harry about it. What if he just felt very close to Ginny as a friend? Hermione doubted this but there was still the chance that there was nothing more there.

Hermione and Ginny paused at a display showing off a dark green colored robe, with small gold details. Hermione saw that Ginny was admiring the color, and she insisted that Ginny try it on, thinking that if nothing else, the color would look fantastic with Ginny's pale skin and fiery red hair.

She was right. Not only did the dress compliment Ginny's hair, but it seemed to enhance her beauty into something unearthly. In short, Ginny looked incredible in the dress.

Hermione then insisted on buying it for Ginny, who was ready to put it back saying she wanted to save her money for an apartment. Ginny was trying to refuse but Hermione bought it anyway, and there was nothing Ginny could do to stop her.

The two girls met up with the boys at the front of the store, and they headed off to the local pub for lunch.

During the day, Ginny had noticed that people would stop and stare at Harry as they walked by. Harry, Ron and Hermione all seemed accustomed to it, although they were not happy about it, but Ginny was completely shocked by it all. There were even a few people here or there; reporters, who would snap pictures of the four as they walked through the streets.

Ginny knew of course that Harry was famous, who didn't, it went without saying that the savior of the wizarding world was well known. The extent of his celebrity though was what surprised Ginny. To have people take pictures of you when you went out to shop was bizarre, and as far as Ginny could tell, uncomfortable.

"Bunch of nosy gits, aren't they?" she said sarcastically as they sat down to eat, noticing one standing outside taking a picture of them.

"Yeah, it's bloody annoying," Ron replied, "and Harry here has it the worst, it only happens to me and Hermione once in a while because we weren't as well known, but Harry has to deal with it all the time!"

"It's not so bad anymore," Harry then said, "or at least, it has gotten better than it was immediately after the war. I couldn't go outside for a year after the war without having my picture taken!"

"Bloody shame too Harry, you certainly are an ugly looking chap," Ginny said smiling sweetly. Hermione and Ron cracked up while Harry glared at Ginny while trying to hide his smile.

"Well, I'm sorry I don't quite live up to your standards Miss Weasley, but it just so happens that most women find me quite attractive." Harry said.

Ginny knew how true Harry's comment was, although he meant it to be a joke. All day, women had been looking at him as though they were marking their prey. It had made Ginny sick, and for some strange reason, slightly jealous. One or two women had even approached Harry, and to be honest, they were reasonably attractive, but Harry had courteously turned them down which had made Ginny happy, although she wouldn't admit it to herself.

The four became quiet as their meals came, and after they had finished, they apparated back to the Burrow.

Once they had returned home, Hermione told Ginny that she would buy tickets for the next night's performance at the ballet theatre, saying that she wanted to see the show again now knowing Ginny was in it, and support her.

Ginny was excited, she really liked having Hermione as a friend, and she was surprised by how quickly they had become so close. She said goodbye to Hermione who was apparating home, and she told Ron and Harry that she would be back later. She had to go to an afternoon practice with the ballet company to prepare for the next nights show.

She apparated to the town where the ballet studio was, and she walked a block or two to get there, so that she would not be seen just popping out of nowhere by a girl from the studio. She entered the building and went to the practice room where she began to put her shoes on.

As she waited for practice to begin, she found herself thinking back to earlier that day, and how glad she was to have found a good friend in Hermione.


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's Note: **I'm writing this chapter the same night that I wrote chapter eight, mainly because I have time and I don't want to let it go for a while, so here you are. Unfortunately, that means that I won't be able to read the reviews of chapter eight before I write this, so I won't know any constructive criticisms or whatnot. I will go back and change anything if I see the need later, so please review!

**Disclaimer: **(I haven't put one up in a while, so I will now) I obviously do not own anything related to Harry Potter with the exception of this fanfic (plot, scenario, etc.) and if I did I would not be writing here, so rest assured, I am not J.K. Rowling in disguise - not that you would reasonably assume that because she doesn't write about ballerinas and such...

* * *

Hermione did in fact buy tickets for the next night's performance at the ballet theatre.

What's more, she decided that she would get Harry to come along as well.

She had two motives for this plan of action. The first being that she owed Harry for the number of times that he had brought her to the ballet theatre for her birthday and such. He knew how much she enjoyed ballet, and he had probably spent a fortune on all of the tickets he had bought, she might as well pay him back a little.

The second was that she wanted to bring Harry to support Ginny because she was hoping that he had feelings for her, and watching her perform, knowing exactly which ballerina she was in the show, would only make him like her more. After all, from what Hermione could remember about the star of the show, she was really spectacular, and hopefully Harry would show his feelings more clearly while watching her perform so gracefully.

She had chosen to come on that particular night for a reason as well. Ron had to work that night and wouldn't be able to attend. Although he and Harry usually worked on the same cases, every now and then they would be split up, as was the case for what Ron was working on that night. Normally Hermione would want Ron to come watch Ginny, but she felt that the situation would go better if Ron were not there, because Hermione assumed that Ginny and Harry would feel more comfortable around each other without Ron in the background.

With all of this in mind, Hermione went to the Burrow early Monday morning (after Ginny left for rehearsal), to tell Harry the news about that night. She apparated to the front door as usual, and rang the bell.

Within minutes, a groggy Harry was opening the door and letting Hermione in.

"Morning 'Mione, watchya doin here so early?" Harry asked mid-yawn.

Hermione giggled. "Harry your starting to sound like Ron calling me Mione. Anyways, I came because I wanted to tell you that I'm taking you to the ballet tonight to watch Ginny."

For a second Harry's face lit up, but quickly it faded, almost like he was hiding it, and he said, "Oh, okay that sounds good I guess. I was thinking that I would go again soon anyway to watch Ginny now that we know her."

Hermione started to nod her head in agreement since that was the exact reason she wanted to go again, however Harry cut in saying, "Don't you think we should wait for a night when Ron doesn't have to work though? He only got to see half of the performance with his family last time I hear, he probably wants to see her."

Hermione froze. She hadn't exactly planned out what to say to Harry about why she had chosen to go without Ron. "Well, um, I just thought that..." she looked around for inspiration, but came up short, "well, I think that Ginny will probably expect us to come tonight to see her, and I don't want to disappoint her." she finished triumphantly.

Harry looked satisfied, and Hermione had a sneaking suspicion that he didn't really care whether Ron was there or not, but just for the heck of it she added, "We could always go watch her again with Ron when he can."

At this Harry formed a smile secret looking smile, as if he were quite pleased by the idea of it, and he quietly nodded his head in agreement.

Pleased with her work, Hermione handed Harry his ticket and told him to be ready by 5:45 sharp. She would swing by and they could apparate to the theatre together. With that, she left the Burrow and apparated to the Ministry in an attempt to get a few hours of paperwork done.

Back at the Burrow, Harry sat in the kitchen with his ticket out in front of him staring. He was excited about tonight since he had been planning something along the same lines, but for some reason he felt very guilty. He reasoned that it had something to do with going to the theatre without Ron. The truth was though, that he was almost glad that Ron wasn't coming.

It meant that he could spend a little time with Ginny without feeling guilty around her brother. It wasn't that he had a real reason to feel that way, but there was something about the way Ginny made him focus on her without even meaning too that made Harry uncomfortable with Ron there.

He picked his ticket up off of the table and put it in his wallet for later. He then finished getting ready for work and left for the Ministry office.

...

At 5:00 like usual, Harry left work and apparated to his temporary home, the Burrow. His mind had drifted all day at work back to the idea of the ballet tonight, and he was relieved to finally be out of the office and closer towards 5:45 when Hermione would be coming over.

He had sent an owl to Ron earlier in the day, to let him know of the plans he had for tonight, and to make sure Ron was okay with it. He was of course, saying that they would just go again soon, and Harry felt bad for the poor chap to be stuck at work until late that night. Normally he would just offer to go help him out to make the job quicker, but not tonight.

He headed straight for the shower, and 10 minutes later stepped out feeling fresh and energized, just like it said he would on the shampoo bottle. He then went into his room and tried to find an outfit to wear. Normally he didn't care at all what he wore, but tonight he wanted to look nice. Not for any particular reason he told himself, just so that Ginny would not be embarrassed by him... or Hermione for that matter, not that he ever wore embarrassing clothes but you get the point.

After careful consideration he decided on a green dress shirt and dark solid black dress pants. He noticed that Ginny wore a lot of green, at least lately. He looked in the mirror and glared at his unruly hair. It never really bothered him much, after all, how many years could he attempt to smooth it down before giving up? He messed with it a little, but like every other time, he eventually quit.

He glanced at the clock and noticed he had 5 more minutes, so he tied his shoes again and checked himself for wrinkles, not that he really cared but what else would he do to kill the time?

At 5:45 exactly, he heard a loud _pop _from outside, and he jumped out of his chair to greet Hermione at the door. He noticed that she looked nice as well, and together they apparated to a point that was less than a block away from the theatre.

They hurried towards the doors and were immediately ushered in by a very round balding man, who they presumed to be a hired doorman for the night. Once inside the main room, which Harry recognized as the place where he first met Ginny a few days ago, they crossed over towards the theatre room doors which were propped open.

They then had to show their tickets to a ticket collector, and they were shown to their seats by a Muggle hostess. They were a little early, so they sat in their seats and chatted quietly until the lights flickered symbolizing that people should take their seats and be quiet.

Soon the entire theatre was submersed in darkness, but that was soon broken when the curtain was parted to reveal a line of ballerinas, with a girl Harry and Hermione recognized as Ginny in the front center.

A pale blue headlight shown down on Ginny only, making her seem like the only person onstage, and to Hermione and Harry, she was. Calm, soothing music started from the orchestra pit in front of the stage, and soon Ginny was on her toes dancing beautifully.

She leaped around the stage so gracefully that it seemed natural. While watching, Hermione was even convinced that she too could stand on her toes and lift her leg up to her head, Ginny made it look so easy.

Hermione was in such a trance watching that she almost forgot to look at Harry's reaction when watching Ginny. She didn't though, and just before more light shone to reveal the other dancers onstage, she looked over and up at Harry's face. He wa just as entranced as she had been seconds ago, but there was some other emotion on his face.

Hermione was sure that it was an indicator of his feelings for Ginny, whatever the emotion was, but she wasn't sure because it was very dark in the room and she could not see his face very clearly. She tried again a few moments later when the other lights onstage turned on, making the room a little brighter, but she could still not determine much other than the fact that his eyes saw no one but Ginny.

This didn't say a lot though because anyone with eyes could see that Ginny was clearly the best dancer there, and anyone would prefer to watch her, and Hermione was most definitely not biased. Well, maybe a little, but regardless, Ginny was the best.

Hermione soon gave up and focused her attention back onto Ginny. She was once again pulled into Ginny's fluid movements within moments. For the rest of the performance she and Harry sat entranced, admiring their friend.

...

After the show, Harry and Hermione set out to the main room where Hermione had arranged to meet up with Ginny. Harry was relieved that this was a Muggle run theatre, because he did not want the attention to be on him by reporters and star-struck women like always when all he wanted to do was congratulate Ginny on her amazing dancing.

Across the room, Ginny stood with her friend Riley. She had just come from backstage and was looking for her friends when all of a sudden Riley squeeled loudly.

"Ohmygod, ohmygod, ohmygod!" she shrieked while clutching onto a bewildered Ginny's arm. "Look Look! It's Harry Potter!! I think he's with his friend Hermione Granger from the war! Do you think he would go out with me if I asked him? It's not like any of the Muggle girls are in a rush to ask him out!"

Ginny held back a laugh as she turned to Riley and asked, "Would you like me to introduce you to the two of them?"

She started to giggle as Riley's face showed it's confusion. She was waiting for Riley's expected response and withing seconds, right on cue, Riley asked, "What are you talking about Ginny? Have you gone bleeding mad?"

Ginny smiled and replied, "No silly, it turns out, my older brother Ron has been best friends with the two of them since the first year of Hogwarts. He helped in the war too! He introduced me to them a few days ago." Ginny was going to add that they had become friends after spending time together, but she didn't want to rub it in Riley's face.

Riley stood gaping like a fish, her eyes going back and forth between Ginny, and Harry and Hermione. She then slapped Ginny on the arm very hard. "You mean to tell me that you were introduced to the Harry Potter and you didn't even owl me?! You great big sodding git!" she said with a smile.

Ginny could only grin before Riley started asking, "Is he as dreamy as he looks in person? Is he the nicest guy you have ever met? Does he have a secret girlfriend?The paper's haven't reported anything but you never know. What is his favorite food?..."

Ginny cut her off there. "Riley, stop. He's a very nice person and yes he's cute, but I don't know about the rest. I'm not as inquisitive as you," she said with a wink. She suddenly felt awful for Harry. If this is what her one friend thought, what were the other 500,000 obsessive girls like, and how did Harry deal with it all?

"Did you know that he has been voted the most eligible bachelor in the whole Wizarding World for five years straight?! Ever since the end of the war!" said Riley. "I read in Witch Weekly that he has dated several model now and then, and that he gives all of his girlfriends and diamond bracelet! One magazine said that they asked him and he said he preferred..."

Ginny tuned Riley out at this point. She now felt more sorry for Harry than ever. To have people constantly speculating on your love life, or what you bought, or your opinions on the most remote object. The constant obsession with him, even when he was trying to live a normal life now that he had the opportunity had to be awful.

Ginny saw Harry and Hermione across the room waving her over to them. She nodded towards her friends and turned back to Riley who was still chattering on about the "facts" she knew about Harry Potter, according to the gossip magazines. Ginny cut her off and said politely that she needed to go, but she would owl her soon to make plans.

Riley looked slightly disappointed, but her boyfriend soon came up to greet her. Ginny took this opportunity to escape to her waiting friends.

As she approached them, she saw Harry and Hermione both smile. As soon as she was within five feet of them, they both simultaneously grabbed her in a hug, very reminiscent of her mother's suffocating hugs.

Once they released her, they started pouring out they admirations and congratulations. Both kept saying how amazing she had danced and how beautiful she looked. Ginny was smiling so hard that she felt her face would break, but she didn't care. She loved having her two new best friends there, and it meant so much to her that Harry had come and surprised her as well.

She thanked him for joining Hermione and he said, "Gin, I will come whenever you want me too, I love watching you up there on-stage."

At this comment, Ginny blushed an outstanding red, and Hermione quickly looked over to Harry to notice that he was beaming with pride, whether it was in his comment or in Ginny she couldn't tell.

The three friends were making plans to go out to celebrate, when Ginny felt a hand tap her on the shoulder. Assuming it was Riley, she smiled and turned around. Instead of her petite hyper friend, she saw a very tall man with blondish spiked hair. Ginny thought that he would generally be considered handsome, although she didn't care much for blonds, finding she had a preference for darker hair.

"Hi, I'm Anthony Stewart," the man said with a cocky grin.

Ginny glanced back at Harry and Hermione and shrugged her shoulders. "Uh, hi, I'm Ginny Weasley," she replied, wondering what this man Anthony wanted.

"Ah, so your a Weasley, that would make sense with the red hair," Anthony said, glancing appreciatively at Ginny's hair which made her a little uncomfortable. "I was wondering if you were a witch since you seem to know Harry Potter and Hermione Granger," he said nodding towards Harry and Hermione in a way that was meant to be a greeting of sorts.

Ginny didn't like the way he assumed things, although he seemed harmless enough so far. "Yeah, I'm a witch, even if my job doesn't suggest it."

"Well the way you danced definitely charmed the audience," Anthony replied. Ginny rolled her eyes, that had to be one of the cheesiest pick-up lines she had ever heard. Hermione apparently thought so too from the way she snorted behind Ginny.

Ginny replied "Thank you, you know I really should go, my friends and I were about to head out."

Anthony stopped her, "Look I'm sorry about that awful line, I just got a little nervous I guess and that popped out."

Ginny softened, he was pretty nice. "It's okay, it wasn't that awful, we really do need to go though."

Anthony smiled and let her walk away, saying as she left loud enough for her to hear, "I'll see you around I hope."

Ginny looked around to reply, but he had already left her line of vision. She once again shrugged her shoulders, and the three of them went out to a local pub to celebrate the night's performance.

Hermione noticed that Harry was strangely quiet on the way there, and she thought with a smile that he must not have been too fond of the Anthony incident. His face had gone red back there and he seemed to be glaring at Anthony the whole time.

He seemed to calm down now though, and as the three drank and joked around, they all seemed to forget about the incident.


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's Note: **Dear God! I am so sorry for taking so long to update! I don't want to make excuses or anything but it was the end of the school year, and you can guess how hectic it was. I promise that updates will be quicker, with longer chapters from now on! Also, I would just like to add that I will also be updating my other stories frequently, so if you like the Phantom of the Opera, check them out... they aren't brilliant but I'm somewhat proud of them thus far. Anyway, on with the story cough cough, chapter.

LOVE Bella

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That night, after the three friends celebrated at the pub, they returned to their respective homes. Ginny said goodnight to Harry and went upstairs to her bedroom, dying to jump into bed and sleep for 20 hours... at least, if not more.

Upon entering her room though, she noticed a large owl that she did not recognize sitting on her open windowsill. She crossed the room wondering if Hermione borrowed another Ministry owl, but not finding a reason why she would send a letter.

She took the letter from the bird, fed him a treat, and watched as he flew away. She then looked at the letter and found that there was nothing written on the envelope.

Deciding that she might as well open it, she ripped open the cream colored parchment and found writing that she did not recognize as well. She quickly skimmed the letter and discovered who the writer was; Anthony Stewart!

She was slightly shocked that he had written her, and how did he know where she lived? Then again, owls could pretty much find anyone as long as they knew the name.

She took a calming breath and reread the letter, this time focusing on the words.

**Dear Ginny,**

**I'm sorry about our meeting at the theatre today, in case you don't remember, I'm the tall guy that stuck his foot in his mouth. I meant to casually introduce myself, but I'm afraid I scared you away. I promise I just wanted to be friendly. You were really great tonight on-stage and I wanted to congratulate you. By the way, I didn't get the chance to tell you earlier that I'm an investor in the ballet theatre, not that it matters much, but I didn't want you to think that I was stalking you or something, because chances are you will see me again at the ballet (I'm sort of required to attend most of them). Maybe you and I could get something to eat sometime? If you don't want to though, or you have a boyfriend, I completely understand. See you soon hopefully.**

**Anthony Stewart**

Ginny held the letter somewhat dazed after finishing reading it. Her general impression of Anthony was positive, he seemed like a nice guy, although she would prefer to have him as a friend than anything else. Maybe she would invite him to dinner with Harry and Hermione, that way he would know she wanted to be friends.

She decided not to owl back because she would have to borrow Harry's owl and it was late. She would probably see Anthony tomorrow anyway, especially since she now knew he was an investor in the ballet.

Content with her decision, she changed her clothes and climbed into bed.

...

The next night after the show, Ginny found Harry, Hermione, and Ron all waiting for her. She quickly said goodbye to her friends in the ballet and walked over to greet them, glad that Ron was able to finally make it.

Harry had noticed during the performance that Ron had never looked prouder than he did when he was watching Ginny dance. He was glad that Ron had the opportunity to finally watch his favorite sibling, and only sister, shine.

As Ginny walked up to the group, she saw Ron smiling with pride at her. After he congratulated her, and the four had made their plans to go to a local restaurant, Ginny looked around for Anthony, eager to invite him along.

She found him over on the wall near them talking to a group of men. She caught his eye and waved in a friendly way, hoping he would come over to talk to her.

Ginny quickly turned back to her friends and explained how she wanted to invite Anthony along for dinner, saying that she wanted to be friends with him. She wanted to make sure that everyone seemed okay with the idea before she forced Anthony on them. Everyone voiced their consent, although Hermione noticed that Harry's eyes had grown dark, and his face had become somber. He did not look very happy at all, but in a weird way, this made Hermione very happy. Maybe he did have some feelings for Ginny after all, why else would he look so jealous?

Hermione looked away from Harry to notice that the Anthony fellow had approached Ginny, and the two were talking. Ginny pulled Anthony's arm gently and led him directly in front of her friends and brother to introduce everyone. Ron seemed a little hostile towards Anthony at first, mainly because he was a guy and he was interested in Ginny, and in Ron's opinion, no one was good enough for his baby sister. Ron soon covered his bad feelings though when he saw the glare Ginny gave him.

Ginny then introduced Anthony to Harry and Hermione. If Ron's greeting was a little hostile, then Harry's was murderous. He appeared to take an instant dislike to Anthony, although truth be told, he could not for the life of him say exactly why. It was just something to do with the way he acted towards Ginny. The man obviously liked her, and Harry didn't want to see her get hurt by some idiot like this Anthony fellow, even if they were just friends.

Harry reasoned with himself that his feelings were simply that of a friend watching out for another friend, after all that's all they were...friends.

The introductions were made, and the group huddled out into the summer night to head off to dinner.

They chose a small restaurant several blocks away from the theatre. After all five were seated, Ginny set out to make everyone comfortable by breaking the tension that was apparent between the three men. She started up a conversation with Anthony, and quickly found that he was a very funny and attentive man. She had to admit, she liked him a lot, although not as anything more than a friend.

Harry and Ron seemed to have come around as well, Ron slightly more than Harry, and they were talking with Anthony comfortably soon enough. Everyone had to admit that Anthony Stewart was a nice guy, and easy to get along with. Ginny could already see her enjoying his friendship very much.

...

Two months had passed since Ginny had first met Harry and Hermione, and they had quickly become her best friends. She and Ron had become very close as well, and the four generally spent their time together. Ginny often spent time with Anthony as well, who was another good friend of hers now, although she clearly preferred Harry and Hermione.

Hermione had noticed a change in Harry. In the past couple of months he seemed to have calmed down around Ginny, not enough to make Hermione think he no longer fancied her, but to the point where he wasn't looking at her every other second; or at least he hid it better now.

As far as Harry was concerned, he and Ginny were good friends, and he didn't want to ruin that. Besides, he felt that he had gotten over his crush, and now he was merely attracted to her, and what red blooded male wouldn't be?

He and Hermione had made it a habit to attend most if not all of Ginny's performances. They had become Ginny's most loyal (if not only) fan base, and they were well known by the other ballerinas (although none but Riley knew that they were famous).

Many of the girls had even asked Harry out after they found out from Ginny that he was just her friend. Apparently his charm and good looks were not lost on Muggles, and secretly he was glad that he attracted women for something other than his fame (although he didn't really care for any of the girls).

Ginny on the other hand was annoyed whenever a girl from the ballet approached Harry. At first it amused her because she knew how much Harry hated the attention, and she knew that he would turn them down. Soon though, when it became apparent that more than one girl was going to make a move on him, and to be honest some of the girls were quite attractive, Ginny decided that enough was enough.

She soon resorted to telling the girls that he was extremely gay, and she even got Riley to go along with it. Harry laughed very hard when she told him this, and she calmly explained that it was for his own good because most of the girls probably had an S.T.D. or something anyway. This just made Harry laugh harder. Hermione was amused by this because it showed a new side to Ginny, a side which might have feelings for Harry, or at least a side that was protective of Harry.

Not to say that Harry wasn't protective of Ginny in return. Hermione noticed that Harry started attending ballet performances nearly every night, at least whenever he could. He seemed determined to spend more time with Ginny than Anthony could, or at least that was Hermione's opinion.

Anthony and Ginny spent time with one another frequently. Ginny would often be seen after a show laughing and talking with Anthony before joining Harry and Hermione. From what Ginny told Hermione, Anthony consistently asked Ginny out, and it was well-known that he wanted to be more than friends, but Ginny always refused him. Her reasons were that he was just not the kind of guy she wanted to date.

Those were the reasons she told Hermione at least. They were partially true, but the whole truth was, Anthony wasn't Harry.

Ginny had come to the realization within weeks that she definitely had a crush on Harry. Hell, she had always had a crush on Harry. The point was, it was not going to go away anytime soon, much to Ginny's dismay. With her intense crush though, any other guys that asked her out were just not that appealing.

...

It was Friday evening. Ginny had been able to leave practice early due to the ballet director coming down with the flu. Luckily there were no performances for another week.

Ginny was in the kitchen making herself a small dinner. She didn't expect anyone to be home yet. Harry and Ron were supposedly still at work, and her mother had gone out to Diagon Alley for a rare day of shopping, courtesy of Ginny as a birthday gift to her mother.

In fact, Harry was not at work any longer. He had apparated back home to the Burrow after completing his work for the day, and he was about to head up for a shower when something caught his attention in the kitchen. He moved closer to the arch that connected the kitchen to the den and realized that he could hear Ginny quietly humming.

Ginny had been unconsciously humming the song from the Nutcracker, the ballet she would be performing soon, for the last 5 minutes. Harry peeked his head in the doorway where she couldn't see him to observe her. He was about to move away and head for the stairs, when she once again caught his attention.

She had started to move as she hummed, and Harry could make out distinct ballet moves. Her foot would point and extend out in front her, then move to the side, and her arm followed in a similar motion. Harry watched entranced, amazed at the grace with which she moved.

His mouth fell open slightly as she proceeded to stand en point on the toe that had been extended to her side. One minute her leg was out with her toe pointed on the ground, and the next she was on the tip of her foot, almost as if some force had lifted her gracefully into that position. Her other leg was extended out at her side with her toe pointed at the end, and she would bend it at the knee and extend it once more.

Harry had seen her do this many times onstage before, but the amazing part about this was that she hardly seemed to realize she was doing it. She was still stirring soup for Merlin's sake!

Ginny seemed to be pulled back into attention as her soup was finished cooking. She removed it from the heat of the stove, and poured it into a bowl. Instead of bringing it to the table however, Harry watched as she placed it on the counter and placed a heating charm on it to keep it warm.

Harry smiled to himself as he watched her bite her lip and look around to see if anyone was watching her. Ironically enough, she was being watched by Harry, but she didn't see him. Harry felt badly for spying on her, and tried to force himself to leave, but he was curious as to what she was doing, especially now that she was putting her long vibrant red hair into a messy bun atop her head.

Harry couldn't help but notice how unbelievably cute she was with her hair like that. _Wait a minute, did you really just think that? _**Um, no, why would you think that? **_Are you serious? Your having a conversation with yourself, I can read your thoughts, therefore I know that you just thought that Ginny looks cute. _**Unbelievably cute, I mean... **_Yeah, don't bother denying it. _**Well would you, I mean let's face it, she's always gorgeous, but now with those tight sweat pants and her hair up like that...**_STOP LOOKING AT HER LIKE THAT!_

Harry's thoughts were interrupted as he heard Ginny mutter a spell. He watched confused as she made the kitchen table and chairs smaller and pushed them to the side of the room leaving an empty floor space. She then conjured herself some ballet slippers around her feet.

Harry realized that she was going to dance. Although he attended most of her performances, he had never seen her dance at home, outside of the theatre, so he was excited. His eyes were glued, and his mouth dropped down all the way to the floor as she started twirling on her toes en point. Something about dancing in the kitchen made her seem more graceful than ever.

She floated around on her toes, performing moves that Harry would never imagine could be done by a person. She seemed to be dancing to a tune within her head, for no music was on in the kitchen. She continued for a few minutes and ended in a move she had told Harry and Hermione was called a first arabesque. It was an extremely difficult looking move where she stood on the toe of one foot and lifted the other leg backwards so that her foot was near her head. It was extremely beautiful and Harry could not stop himself from thinking how incredibly gorgeous she was.

The moment was ruined when Harry heard Ron slamming the front door open as he returned home from work. Ginny heard it too apparently, and she scrambled to return the furniture to normal, not wanting to be caught dancing in the kitchen it seemed.

Harry dashed upstairs, taking the steps three at a time, not wanting to get caught spying on Ginny by Ron. He made it to his room and sat on the bed catching his breath and completely forgetting about the shower he had originally wanted.

His mind went over the whole event he had just witnessed over and over. Why was it that he could not get Ginny off of his mind? She had seemed so beautiful and graceful like an angel back in the kitchen, but still, his thoughts were _clouded_ by her. Images of her perfect face and body were floating through his mind at warp speed. _Wait a minute, perfect face and body? Since when is Ginny perfect?_** What do you mean, she's always been perfect? **_No she hasn't, she has always been pretty and funny and smart, but perfect? That's a little intense don't you think? _**But she is perfect, her movements, her jokes, her face, her laugh... it's all so perfect! **

_Hey Romeo, your starting to sound like your in love with her. _**Oh come off it! I'm not in love with Ginny, I just... **

Harry thought about everything he had ever felt for her. Sure, he had a crush on her originally, but that had faded right? They were good friends now... right?

His mind suddenly spun as he thought of the many times he wanted to touch her or kiss her, or just simply hold her. She was just so goddamn beautiful. And then that laugh of hers always made him smile, and she smelled so good, like fresh cut flowers but different in a way that was uniquely Ginny. She could always make him laugh too, or smile, and he always felt better when he was around her. He then thought of how he felt when he had met Anthony, and how he had wanted to tear him apart limb for limb, just for looking at Ginny...

**Oh Merlin! I think I'm in love with her! **_Well now you get it..._

Harry was completely flabbergasted. He was in love with Ginny Weasley, and as far as he could tell, he always had been.

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**Author's Note: **There you go, a nice long chapter to make up for my month long absence. I promise there is more on the way... tomorrow I should think. But for now, I really have to go to bed, so I hope you enjoyed this!


	11. Chapter 11

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Author's Note:

Once again, I'm sorry for not updating as often as I should. I always mean to, but never get around to actually doing it. I hope this makes up for it!

Please review! I want to make sure people are reading this!

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Harry had sat on his bed all night thinking about his newly discovered love for Ginny.

He was shocked that he hadn't realized sooner that he loved her, after all, he didn't feel this way for Hermione or any of his other friends who were girls... shouldn't he have noticed he felt differently towards Ginny?

When he thought about it more though, he found that maybe the reason he didn't consider his feelings towards Ginny was because they had been there the moment he met her. She had always entranced him, and filled his head with nothing but her. It had become normal, so he just ignored it.

It was an amazing feeling being in love. He started to let his thoughts drift to an imaginary future where he was with Ginny, and they were happy together.

He imagined them living in a beautiful house, and Ginny humming as she cooked in the kitchen and dancing on her toes without even noticing, as Harry watched her.

Merlin he wanted that future! Unfortunately, it seemed that it would never happen. He and Ginny had become such good friends that it seemed almost impossible to break out of that and date one another. She wouldn't want to anyway.

For the rest of that night, Harry lay on his bed, wishing he and Ginny could be together, but knowing that it wouldn't happen.

...

The next day, after Harry, Ron, and Hermione were done with work, the three of them along with Ginny sat on the back patio of the Burrow eating dinner.

Ginny had spent the day with her friend Riley in Diagon Alley, and she was telling her three friends a story of how Riley had walked into the Owl Emporium, and accidentally knocked over a cage which had bumped into another cage, which had bumped into another cage. Her story ended with all of the owls in the Emporium going crazy because their cages had been knocked over, and Riley and Ginny being kicked out of the store.

"So I guess you won't be allowed back into the store anytime soon?" Harry asked, his sides hurting from laughing so much at Ginny's narrative.

"Nope. The owner recognized me from my hair as being a Weasley, so I don't think he'll forget anytime soon. Looks like I'll have to keep borrowing Pig, Ron." Ginny said with a smile.

"Oh, wonderful." Ron said sarcastically.

After they had finished dinner, Ron, Hermione, and Harry begged Ginny to show them a few moves from the new ballet she was going to start. Her ballet company was going to be performing the Nutcracker next week, and Ginny had refused to show them any moves yet.

"Please Ginny, we're going to have such a hectic week at work next week, that we might not even be able to make it down to the theatre." Ron whined.

"Ron, the three of you have been coming to almost all of my performances. You have seen more shows than Mum and Dad combined! I'm really not worried about you making it to the theatre." Ginny replied, giving Ron a glare.

"Fine, see if I ever come to support you again." Ron said as he stuck out his tongue.

Ginny just glared before sticking her tongue out as well and crossing her eyes for good measure. Both Harry and Hermione cracked up at the face Ginny was making.

Despite her protests, Ginny gave in and stood up, creating a smooth wooden floor on the patio with her wand. She then conjured ballet slippers, just like Harry saw her do the day before in the kitchen. She also conjured a record player to play a song from the Nutcracker.

As the song began, she started to move, floating across the wood surface. The dance was beautiful as always, but something was different about this one. Harry couldn't even describe the way in which she moved; it was unearthly. Harry was so amazed with Ginny, and felt so filled with love in that moment for her that all he could do was stare at her.

Hermione noticed this, and knew she had to confront Harry. All night he had been staring at Ginny with a look in his eyes that showed how devoted he was to her. Hermione had given him plenty of time, now she was going to get the truth out of him.

Once Ginny had finished dancing, Harry was very clearly the loudest clapper. He continued to compliment her and tell her how wonderful she was. This showed Hermione all she needed to know.

When Harry stood up offering to bring some dishes into the kitchen, Hermione immediately offered to help. The two of them refused to let Ron or Ginny help, although both offered.

Once they were inside the kitchen, Hermione wasted no time. She pulled him into the living room so that Ginny and Ron wouldn't hear through the open kitchen window.

She turned towards Harry and said forcefully, "Harry, I need to ask you something."

"Um, okay, shoot." Harry said uncertainly. Hermione seemed very serious, but he wasn't sure what about.

"I need you to tell me exactly how you feel about Ginny... do you like her as more than a friend?" Hermione asked, hoping that Harry would just admit what she already knew.

Harry struggled to keep the panic that he felt off of his face. _How did she know_?! **Well, your not the most subtle guy...in fact, the way you feel about Ginny was probably written on your face every time you looked at her. **_Not helping!! _**It's really not my job to help you. **_Well could you start? What do I say? I don't want her to know I love Ginny, then she will want me to admit it to Ginny! _**Well maybe you _should _admit it to Ginny. **_No you stupid git, Ginny doesn't feel the same towards me! _**No need for name calling. You don't know for a fact that Ginny doesn't feel the same towards you. **_I guarantee she doesn't. _**Are you sure? **_Yes... well no, but yes. _**Huh? **_No she doesn't feel the same! _**Alright, alright, no need to yell. **_Well, what do I do? _**I think you should tell the truth. **_Oh, who the bloody hell asked you?! _**Um, you did genius.**

Harry forced a calm look back onto his face.

"Hermione, I don't know where you came up with that crazy idea. I love Ginny, but only as a friend. She's one of my best friends now, almost like a sister." Harry said. It killed him to have to lie to Hermione this way, but he really wanted to crush her idea, just in case she told Ginny what she thought anyway.

**Way to lie your ass off Einstein. **_It had to be done, if Ginny found out I loved her, she would just have to turn me down. I don't think I could handle that. _**Like this is so much better. **_It is, in a way. _**Whatever, but don't come crying to me when your old and alone because you missed your chance with Ginny. **_I don't have a chance with Ginny! But your right, I probably will end up old and alone. No one will be good enough compared to Ginny._

Hermione was annoyed. She knew for a fact that Harry was lying. No one looked at their best friend the way Harry looked at Ginny unless they were in love with them, which Harry definitely was. But if Harry wasn't going to admit it, then there was nothing Hermione could do right now.

...

Seconds after Hermione and Harry walked into the Burrow, Ginny picked up a dish they had left behind, and brought it into the kitchen. She didn't see either Harry or Hermione in the room, and had started to walk towards the living room to find them when she heard Hermione say, "I need you to tell me exactly how you feel about Ginny... do you like her as more than a friend?"

Was she saying this to Harry?

Ginny walked closer and leaned against the doorway of the kitchen, trying to hear the conversation better, completely ignoring the voice in her head that said it was wrong to evesdrop.

She heard Harry reply after a minute of silence.

"Hermione, I don't know where you came up with that crazy idea. I love Ginny, but only as a friend. She's one of my best friends now, almost like a sister."

Ginny's throat was constricting. All of a sudden she felt as if the walls were closing in around her and the room had become unbearably hot.

Harry felt nothing for her, except the love of a sister.

_Wait, why does this bother you so much?_

Ginny grabbed her head and tried to sort through all of the thoughts that seemed to be forcing themselves in all at once.

_Why are you so upset that Harry feels this way towards you, you already knew this. _**Yes, but it's an entirely different thing to have to hear him say it out loud... that he doesn't feel anything for me. **_Are you upset because you feel something for him? Something more than a crush?_

Ginny tried to stop the thoughts from changing too quickly, she needed to sort this out.

She obviously had always had a crush on him, even before she met him, but she hardly knew anything about him. Then again, she had spent two months with the guy as one of his closest friends, getting to know him very well, so actually she knew a lot about him...more than most people, even the people closest to him. He trusted her a lot, and she trusted him.

She thought of all the times that she had been jealous of a girl talking to him, thinking that maybe he would like that girl. She thought of all the time that she had spent alone with him just talking. How many times had she imagined a future where the two of them were together? She realized that she had thought about it quite a lot actually.

_It sort of sounds like your in love with him. _**Love?! I can't be in love with him, he's one of my best friends! **_Yes, but you liked him before, and you want to be more than friends. _**Oh, how would you know!? **_Are you serious? _**ARGH! I can't be in love with Harry, he just told Hermione I'm just a friend! **_Regardless, you know you love him, the fact that you are upset as you are proves that. _

Ginny felt like she had been hit by the Knight's bus. She was in love with Harry Potter! Why hadn't she realized it before?

She peered out into the living room and felt like crying when she saw Harry. Here she was in love with him and he felt nothing for her, and she knew this for a fact! Life could be so unfair!

A few tears slipped out of the corner of Ginny's eyes, despite how hard she fought to keep them back. She bit her lip and wiped them away forcibly.

Soon enough, she heard the voices in the living room stop, and she heard footsteps approaching. She ran outside and pretended to have been sitting there the whole time, telling Ron that she didn't know where Harry and Hermione had gone.

As soon as they walked outside together and Ginny saw Harry, she knew that she couldn't sit there for the rest of the night talking with him as though everything were normal. She made up some excuse about having plans with Riley she forgot about, and ran inside up to her room.

She sat on her bed crying for several minutes before deciding that if she sat there they would eventually find her. She stood up and apparated to Riley's house, figuring that by doing so she could make what she told her friends mostly true.

When she got to the house, she knocked on Riley's door and stood there for a minute as Riley walked to the door of her small flat.

When Riley opened the door, she saw a crying Ginny Weasley.

She took her inside immediately, and comforted her friend as she cried for a solid twenty minutes before she asked what was wrong.

The rest of the night was spent with Ginny crying and confessing everything to Riley.

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**Author's Note: **I know you all hate me now, and I really hated doing this. I have the next chapter written already, but I WILL ONLY POST IT IF YOU REVIEW! If you don't then you have to wait a week... maybe two!! So review! I promise, things will get better for Ginny and Harry, maybe not immediately, but soon!


	12. Chapter 12

**Author's Note: **Again, I'm really, really, really sorry about the last chapter. I know it was cruel and mean to do that, and I know that right now it seems like Ginny and Harry are just being stupid, but I promise in the end they will be together.

**Warning - **This chapter is not going to be fun either. In fact, you will all probably hate me at the end of it, but I swear, this is the last bad chapter, the rest will be nothing but sunshine and rainbows and lots of kissing!

**PLEASE KEEP READING...THINGS WILL GET BETTER!**

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"Ginny, I just don't understand. I thought you and Harry were friends. Why are you so upset?" Riley asked once Ginny had told her the whole story. The two were still sitting on the couch, and Ginny was feeling sick from crying so much.

"I'm in love with him, but he doesn't l..l..love me back!" Ginny said, breaking into a sob once again.

Riley rubbed Ginny's back in small comforting circles, but nothing could soothe the heartbroken girl. At one o'clock in the morning, once Ginny's sobs had subsided and she fell asleep, Riley moved her so that she was comfortable on the couch and wrapped a blanket around the two of them. Normally, Riley would have left Ginny on the couch and gone to her bed, but tonight, Ginny needed someone near her.

...

A week had passed since "the incident" as Riley referred to it in her thoughts, although she wouldn't dare call it that in front of Ginny.

Ginny herself pretended it didn't happen, although it was obvious to Riley that she was still heartbroken and that it would take a while for her to get over this. On a positive note, Ginny could now talk to Harry almost as if things were normal, although Riley suspected they weren't as close as before.

Harry had noticed Ginny's distance, although he couldn't for the life of him figure out what had changed.

It was difficult for him to look at her everyday when he was so in love, and not be able to grab her and kiss her, but it was even harder now that she wasn't as exuberant around him as she normally was.

The week that Ginny had off from the ballet passed quickly. She had a practice now and then, especially towards the end of the week as the first performance of the Nutcracker drew near. It was the beginning of December, and the ballet would be performing the Nutcracker all month in honor of Christmas.

Ginny had been hanging out with Anthony a lot more often than before, around the same time that she became more distanced from Harry. It was Riley's suggestion in the first place; to get Harry off of her mind with a new guy. Anthony wasn't necessarily a rebound guy, considering they weren't dating, but he was great to hang out with and take Ginny's mind off of Harry.

One drawback about Anthony was that he asked her out every single day. Ginny had to hand it to him, he was persistent, but she didn't want to date him. That is, she didn't want to date him until Saturday, two days before the first performance.

Ginny was sitting in the kitchen reading the Daily Prophet when she flipped to the third page and saw a picture that made her want to crawl into a hole and die.

The picture showed Harry sitting in a cafe, very cozy with a gorgeous blond haired woman. The caption above the picture read, **Hero Falls for Swedish Heiress.**

Ginny's eyes were the size of a teacup. She knew that Harry wasn't seriously dating anyone, but in the picture he looked pretty comfortable with the girl...and an heiress no less! No doubt she was absolutely perfect and he was probably drooling over her every second they were together.

Ginny felt the tears come up to her eyes. Sure the story could be fake, but you can't fake a picture like this!

Ginny knew that the reason this bothered her so much wasn't the fact that Harry went on a date, after all, one date isn't a committed relationship, and she hadn't heard anything about the girl so that meant he probably wasn't crazy about her, but still a date was a date. It was just another piece of concrete evidence that Harry had no feelings for Ginny, and it felt like a knife stabbing into her heart.

She crumbled the newspaper and threw it across the room, as she blindly wiped away tears that were falling. She took a deep calming breath, and performed a charm that would remove the blotchiness from her face.

Then, Ginny walked into the fireplace and flooed Anthony. She needed to get her mind off of Harry Potter, and she knew just how to do it.

...

Harry came back from a Quidditch game with Ron at around 4 in the afternoon. He walked into the kitchen for a glass of lemonade that Ginny had made yesterday.

As he stood in front of the refrigerator about to open the door, he saw something at the bottom that made him stop. A ball of crumpled paper sat on the floor, looking sadly out of place in the clean but cluttered kitchen.

Harry bent down to pick it up, and opened it to see what the abandoned scrap of paper was. He was immediately enraged when he saw the picture of him and Sophie Davidson on the third page of the Daily Prophet. The caption and story that followed was what enraged him.

Sophie and Harry had not been on a date, why would he date anyone when he was living under the same roof as Ginny, his dream girl? As always, the papers had it wrong.

Sophie and Harry had met when Harry was training to become an Auror. It was true that Sophie was an heiress to a fortune in Sweden, she in fact had sponsored many training programs for the Aurors-to-be, due to the fact that her BOYFRIEND, was in the program.

Harry had been friends with her boyfriend, and likewise became friendly with her. The day he went to the cafe with her was supposed to be a day for the three of them to catch up, and it seemed that the papers got a picture of him hugging Sophie, and then conveniently left out her boyfriend in the shots. Typical.

Harry threw the paper out after glaring at the story for a minute. He hoped that Ginny hadn't seen that...not that she would care, but the story was messed up and he didn't want her to think he was hiding things from her.

...

After Ginny talked with Anthony through floo powder, she went up to her room and cried for several minutes. She had agreed to finally go on a date with him, and it was safe to say that Anthony was ecstatic.

Ginny finally calmed down and looked through her wardrobe for something to wear. She wanted to look nice since he was actually going to put forth an effort today, but she couldn't find any outfit that looked decent.

She dug around in the back of her closet, hoping to find a dress that might have dropped or something, when her hand latched onto a bag thrown at the bottom.

She pulled it out and noticed that it had the Madame Malkin's logo on it..._when did I go to Madame Malkin's? _she wondered to herself.

She reached into the bag and pulled out a mass of green cloth and immediately remembered. These were the dress robes Hermione had insisted she buy, well actually, Hermione insisted on buying them for her.

Ginny smiled a little at the memory. Yes, these robes would do.

She pulled the dress robes on, charmed her hair so that it went into a graceful bun at the back with loose tendrils in the front, and did her makeup in soft neutral colors with dramatic mascara to bring out the blue in her eyes.

As hesitant as she was to admit it, she thought she looked very nice, the dress robes fitting perfectly to her body, and hugging every curve.

She glanced at the clock and saw that she had 10 minuted before Anthony came to pick her up. With a big sigh, and a glance at a picture of her and Harry on her nightstand, she stepped outside of her room, and walked carefully downstairs, moving slowly so that she wouldn't trip in her heels.

...

"Where's Ginny?" Harry asked Ron and Hermione as the three sat in the living room playing exploding snap.

Hermione glanced at Harry and hesitantly said, "She has a date tonight. I expect she's getting ready."

Ron and Harry both snapped their heads up to look at Hermione.

" She has a what?!" Ron bellowed, outraged at the very idea. Harry's eyes were wild Hermione noticed, and he seemed to be saying exactly what Ron said on the inside.

"Oh, you heard me Ronald, she's going on a date." Hermione said exasperated, both with Ron's over-protectiveness and Harry's stupidity at letting Ginny go.

"I know I bloody heard you woman, I just hoped I heard you wrong! Who's she going out with?" Ron said once again, wincing a bit when he saw Hermione's eyes flash.

"If you must know, she is going out to dinner with Anthony Stewart. You remember Anthony I trust." Hermione replied, glaring at Ron, but directing the last part of her question towards Harry.

"I bloody remember him...and I'll remember to rip his bloody head off when I see him," Ron growled.

Harry just looked straight ahead at a wall, not seeming to take anything in.

"Ronald, you will do nothing of the sort. Ginny has just as much right to date as you do, whether you take advantage of that right or not is your choice," Hermione said a little indignantly.

Ron looked shocked. "Just because I don't want to ask out any girl I can, doesn't mean I don't date!"

"Oh really, then when was the last time you went out with a girl?" Hermione said, allowing the conversation to change to Ron.

"I go out plenty!" Ron shouted, "Besides I've never heard you complaining about my lack of dates before!"

Harry tuned the two out. They were just going to argue in circles again, until they realized that they were no longer fighting about Ginny.

Something else had caught Harry's attention though. Ginny was walking down the stairs slowly, as if making sure she didn't trip, which Harry suspected was probably the case.

_She is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen...ever. _

Harry could not remove his gaze from Ginny's tiny frame. The dress she was wearing had become Harry's best friend. It was the perfect color for her complexion and hair, and the gold trimmings and decorations on it helped to enhance the golden streaks in her hair. The dress fit her so well it was as though it were sculpted for her. Harry couldn't believe he was looking at something as beautiful as she, and she was actually real!

Ginny seemed to hardly even notice the audience she now had as she walked down the stairs. She was so focused on each step one at a time, and Harry couldn't help but once again find her clumsiness off-stage endearing.

Harry gazed at her, pretending that she was walking down the stairs to go on a date with him, not Anthony.

He closed his eyes and imagined Ginny running up to him, slowly because of her heels, jumping into his arms, and kissing him with as much passion as he wanted to kiss her with.

The thought made Harry very, very happy, but once he opened his eyes he saw Ginny at the foot of the stairs looking at him oddly.

"You alright there Harry, you looked a little funny," Ginny said stiffly. Why did Harry have to be so bloody good looking!? Here he was looking at her, his eyes filled with an emotion she couldn't identify, and all she wanted to do was jump into his arms and snog him right here and now!

The look in Harry's eyes passed, although Ginny could still feel his gaze.

"Yeah, I'm fine Gin. I was just thinking of something." Harry said sadly. He clenched his fists to keep himself from grabbing her into his arms.

"You look really nice tonight Gin. Got a big date I hear." He said trying to sound neutral.

Ginny could feel the tears starting to brim up in her eyes. Why was she bloody crying all the time lately? Instead, she bit her lip, gave a small smile and said, "I wouldn't really consider it a big date, I just figured I would give Anthony a chance. It's not like I'm bloody dating anyone else."

Harry missed her sarcasm. All he could focus on was her lips, and how adorable she was as she bit her lip. He had noticed that she would bite her lip when she was nervous, or if she thought of something she wanted to say but couldn't say it. He had even seen her bite her lip before she cried, but this probably wasn't one of those times.

Ginny and Harry both turned when they heard a loud _pop _outside. Seconds later the doorbell to the Burrow was ringing.

Ginny held in her sigh, and walked forward slowly to the door. When she opened it, she saw Anthony standing outside looking nice, although no one in her opinion compared with Harry. Anthony had a huge smile on his face and held out a bouquet of flowers.

Harry rolled his eyes slightly when he saw Anthony. _Why did he have to bring the bloody flowers? _**You would have given Ginny flowers if you went on a date with her. **

Harry watched as Ginny and Anthony left the Burrow, both with smiles on their faces. Suddenly he couldn't stay in the Burrow any longer. He had to get out.

He told Ron and Hermione that he would be back soon, and he apparated to the apartment building he and Ron and lived in just two months ago.

...

Harry looked around his once destroyed apartment.

He and Ron had hired construction workers to rebuild the front rooms, although they would often stop by and fix the work with their wands.

Harry noticed that most of the work was done, in fact, all that was needed was a fresh coat of paint, and some clean furniture. Harry did this all with his wand, and ran downstairs to an outdoor pay phone.

He looked up the construction company in the phone book, thanking Merlin that he remembered how to use it, and called to tell them their services were no longer needed.

He then apparated back to the Burrow, to tell Ron the "good" news.

...

Harry found Ron sitting inside the kitchen at the Burrow. Hermione was apparently in the bathroom. Harry wasted no time in telling Ron his plan.

"So everything is fixed, and you want to move back tonight?" Ron said as Harry finished his narrative.

"Well, yes." Harry said timidly. He wasn't sure how Ron was going to take the news. Not that it mattered, he could always move in on his own, but he wanted Ron to come.

"Brilliant! I didn't realize the work would be done so soon! We'll finally have our flat back!" Ron exclaimed excitedly.

Harry picked up on the excitement. Good, Ron was on board. "Great, so do you want to move tonight?"

Ron's eyes flashed with something Harry could only identify as guilt. "Well mate, as much as I want to, I don't want to just leave without saying goodbye to Ginny. I'd hate to leave her here without telling her first."

Harry agreed of course, it would be awful for Ginny to hear that he and Ron were just gone, but at the same time, Harry wasn't sure if he could handle hearing about her date after wards.

Ron apparently saw the look on Harry's face and mistook it for eagerness to move. "Tell you what mate, how about you go and stay at the flat tonight. I'll stay here one more night just to say goodbye to Ginny and such, and then I'll move in tomorrow."

Harry liked this plan. He could stop by tomorrow morning for breakfast and talk with Ginny, instead of seeing her tonight, fresh from her date.

"Yeah, let's do that. I'll go pack my stuff and say goodbye and thanks to your mum and dad." Harry said as he turned to walk upstairs.

Hermione came out minutes later and heard about everything from Ron. She knew Ginny would be crushed that her new best friends were leaving her, but at the same time, Hermione knew that it might be best since Ginny was dating Anthony.

...

Harry unpacked everything at the apartment after saying goodbye to the Weasleys. He lay on his bed and stared at his ceiling, wishing Ginny were across the hallway from him once again, but knowing that this was for the best.

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**Author's Note: **I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I know once again that I will get people upset in this chapter, but this was the last bad one, things will get better by the middle of the next chapter!

**Keep reading, don't lose faith!**

**I posted this chapter so quickly because I got so many reviews! I know it's awful, but I am holding the story hostage again. IF YOU DON'T REVIEW I WILL MAKE YOU WAIT FOR THE NEXT CHAPTER! so just review, because I promise I get them out quicker when you do!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Author's Note: **I know everyone has been very upset with me due to the last two chapters, but I promise, this chapter will make things better.

I repeat: THIS CHAPTER WILL MAKE YOU HAPPIER!

keep in mind that this isn't the end of the story, so you are not going to be completely satisfied, but you will be happier!

Enjoy, LOVE Bella

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Harry rolled over in his bed, and buried into the cool side of his pillow.

He was trying very hard to ignore the persistent knocking that was being issued on the front door of the apartment, and fall back to sleep, but it was becoming increasingly more difficult every second.

Whoever was at the door did not seem to want to go away anytime soon.

Harry's thoughts drifted through a list of his friends that could possibly be at the door at... 9:05 in the morning.

Alright, so it wasn't necessarily the crack of dawn, but it was Sunday for Merlin's sake! If he couldn't sleep in on a Sunday, when was he allowed to sleep in? 9:05 was an ungodly hour in his opinion.

Harry knew that it wasn't Ron at the door for several reasons. The first was that Ron was never up this early on a Sunday... never. Secondly, Ron obviously had a key to the apartment considering he lived there too...it wasn't Ron.

Harry's list ran short of people after Hermione, who wouldn't bother to knock on Harry's door so early, and probably would have apparated into the flat by now.

He knew of course that there were people who wouldn't simply apparate into the home uninvited, the person at the door being one of them, but he didn't care any longer. The knocking was getting louder if anything, and so Harry threw his covers off and walked unsteadily towards the door.

Normally he would have at least looked through the peep hole to see who was there, that being a basic instinct as an Auror, but he figured that anyone who wanted to hurt him would have blasted through the door by now.

Instead, he opened up the door immediately, and gasped a little when he saw the person standing there... or rather the expression on that person's face.

Ginny Weasley, the girl that had occupied Harry's dreams all night was standing in the doorway in all her glory, but the look on her face indicated she was ready to kill.

"Hey Gin. Why...why are you here so early?" Harry asked, flinching slightly as he saw her eyes flash with warning at his question. He had been around Ginny enough to know what the look in her eyes meant...that girl, as adorable and perfect as Harry thought she was, had a temper that should never be crossed.

"Is it early, I hadn't noticed?" she said sarcastically, stepping past Harry with a huff into the living room.

Harry was about to ask her what was wrong, but he didn't want his head to be bitten off, so instead he stayed quiet hoping she would say something first.

He didn't have to wait long.

"Do you know Harry, I came into your room this morning at the Burrow to apologize for being so distant lately, but could you guess what I found there instead of you?" Ginny asked, her eyes penetrating into Harry's with a blaze of anger.

Harry stayed quiet. Ginny was about to go into a rant, he knew it, and if he replied now, she would probably hex him.

Ginny started talking again almost immediately, not seeming to care whether he responded or not.

"In your room, I found nothing..._not a single bloody thing! _Do you know how scary it is, to walk into someones room and find that everything is gone except the furniture? I don't normally go into your room much, but I know you keep more stuff in it than that! Then, I go downstairs and floo Hermione, figuring she might know where you went, and she tells me that you moved out!"

Ginny's eyes filled with tears which she quickly hid by turning away.

Harry was completely confused. Why the bloody hell was Ginny so upset by this? He knew she would be angry he didn't tell her, but had she really been that scared?

Harry imagined walking into Ginny's room at the Burrow to talk to her, and finding everything gone..._oops_. That would be quite scary. Suddenly he felt awful. He had left Ginny no note, nothing. He didn't even say goodbye, although his plan had been to stop in for breakfast.

Harry realized that his brilliant plan last night had been rather stupid. He should have just moved out today with Ron!

Harry tried to reach towards Ginny. "Gin, I'm so sorry, I was going to tell you today that I was moving back into the apartment but... you got here first."

Ginny turned back to Harry, "No shit Sherlock!" Ginny said poking Harry in the chest with her index finger.

"Look, I don't care if you move out, I mean that's wonderful, really! But why didn't you tell me? I thought we were good friends, and then you just leave as soon as I go out and don't even bother to tell me! How the hell do you think that made me feel? Everyone else knew but me! I thought I had finally made it into your little group, had finally become an equal with you guys, and then I get treated like Ron's little sister again...like I don't even matter!"

Harry's heart felt like it was being ripped into two little pieces, and stomped on by a hippogriff.

How had he not considered Ginny's feelings? He had left in a rush so that he could try to put a healthy distance between himself and Ginny, but it just ended up hurting her which he definitely did not want to do. This was a mess, and it was all his fault.

He did the first thing that came to mind and closed the gap between him and Ginny, enclosing her in a hug. Seconds later he felt Ginny's arms wrap around him tentatively, although he could still feel anger radiating off of her.

_This feels so right, like we were built for each other... _Harry thought, wishing he could hold onto Ginny forever.

Harry pulled back enough to see Ginny's face, which was tear streaked.

"Gin, you are one of my closest friends. I sometimes feel closer to you than I do to Ron or Hermione! I didn't mean to leave without telling you, honestly, but I came here to look around, and I suddenly felt so out of place at the Burrow,"

Ginny started to interrupt with something, but Harry kept going.

"and I know you all say that I'm always welcome there, but I'm a grown man. I can't be living at my best mate's mum's house anymore, besides there was no reason for me to stay any longer." Harry saw something pass across Ginny's face that looked slightly like disappointment, but he was probably just imagining it.

"I promise you Gin, my first priority this morning was to come tell you since you were...out last night," Harry said, stumbling a little when he remembered Ginny's date the previous night.

Harry didn't like that he couldn't tell her the exact reason he moved out. It felt like he was lying to her, but he couldn't just tell her he moved out because he was completely in love with her and couldn't take it any longer. _That probably wouldn't go over well, _he thought sadly.

Harry could tell Ginny was no longer livid with him. In fact, she seemed to have just about forgiven him. He could tell she was still a little angry that she had been left completely in the dark though.

"Merlin Gin, I didn't realize this would affect you so much. I...I wasn't really thinking about it." Harry said as an after thought, rubbing small comforting circles on her back. _I just had to get out, _he thought to himself.

Ginny stiffened in his arms slightly. Although he didn't realize it, his words had affected her in a different way than he had intended. _He didn't think about it at all? He didn't bother to think that I would be angry if I had been left out?_

She had stormed over to the apartment this morning, believing that she was angry with Harry for moving without telling her, but the fact was, she was hurt that she didn't mean more to him, that he hadn't thought of how she would feel when making important decisions. He had become a big part of her life, and she thought he felt the same towards her, but this whole mess was making her doubt everything. Subconsciously she realized that she was upset because she cared for him as more than a friend, but she ignored that realization. Instead, she did the one thing she knew for sure she was good at...she got angry. Really, really angry. She was famous for her Weasley temper after all.

It all boiled down to one thing for her though... Harry didn't love her. At least, she was convinced he didn't.

The hurt feelings came rushing back now, despite the fact that two minutes ago they had vanished. She had actually been comforted by Harry, and was feeling much better, but what he said brought her back to her reality. _He doesn't love me._

She could feel her eyes filling with tears again, brimming with the salty liquid that threatened to reveal her weakness. She blinked the tears back though as she felt the hot scorching anger boil through her veins. She could feel the sensation filling her like it had this morning, and she knew she should leave before she made a bigger mess of the situation.

"Well, I'm so relieved that I didn't cause you too much worry. Wouldn't want you to burst a brain cell or something now would we?" Ginny spat out, her anger clouding her brain and making her feel slightly dizzy. _I should probably get this checked out, _she thought offhandedly.

Harry looked down at Ginny in utter confusion. How had things suddenly gotten worse? Everything was fine a minute ago, and then he said..._oh bugger._

He felt as though he had just undone everything he had worked on to make Ginny feel better. He had refueled the fire, and there seemed to be no way to calm it down now.

This was Ginny's cue to leave. She saw that Harry was not happy about this turn in the conversation, and she wanted to escape before they went through the painful cycle again. Besides, being in the same room as Harry for extended amounts of time made Ginny feel dizzy and weak-kneed. Or maybe that was the anger. Either way, she had to get out of there.

She turned away from him, noticing as she did that Harry's expression was one of hurt. This was killing her. She knew Harry wanted to be her friend, and her anger towards him only hurt him, but it stemmed from her feelings of love that she believed Harry couldn't return. It was odd because she knew that arguing with him would not make him suddenly love her, but she couldn't stand to be vulnerable in front of him either. There was no happy medium.

She started walking towards the door, her mind in turmoil trying to sort through all of the contradicting feelings inside of her, and still hoping to just escape with her dignity in tact.

"Forget it Harry. I have to go." she called over her shoulder.

Harry stared at Ginny's retreating back. He had no idea what made her end the fight so suddenly, not that he was complaining, but all he wanted to do was talk to her to tell her how much she meant to him.

He was on the verge of doing this, but something else caught his attention first...

Ginny was almost at the door when she heard Harry breath in quickly, as though he were about to say something. She really didn't want to listen, so she picked up her pace.

Three feet away...two feet...one and a half feet away from the door. Then she felt it. Her foot caught, her body lunged forward, and her mind went blank of everything except for one phrase..._oh bugger! oh bugger! oh bugger!_

She was going down!

Harry's breath hitched in his throat as his mind was taken off what he was going to say, and forced into watching Ginny. She was tripping, but not just a slight trip or stumble. No, she was falling headfirst to the ground!

Ginny felt as though she were in one of those crazy Muggle movies her dad was so obsessed with, where there was an action sequence done completely in slow motion. She was falling forward one inch at a time.

Eventually she hit the ground...hard. She looked up, down, and all around herself, eyes wide, trying to find whatever was the cause of her fall so that she could place blame. To her dismay, she found nothing.

_Oh Merlin's shorts...I've tripped on nothing! I have quite literally fallen to the ground due to nothing! Way to go Ginny, super duper job! Are you going to simultaneously combust next? Who in the bloody world trips and falls on nothing? Who?!_

Ginny glanced up at Harry through her lashes in an attempt to be discreet. She really hoped he hadn't seen that.

She saw Harry gaping at her as though she _had _just simultaneously combust.

_Oh bugger, he saw that._

Harry could do nothing but stare at Ginny. He wasn't sure what had happened really, one minute she was storming out of the apartment, and the next she was on the ground!

Harry watched as Ginny looked around her, pretending as though she hadn't just fallen. Without realizing it, his face broke out into a grin, small at first but growing in size as he continued to watch Ginny's shocked face. He couldn't help it, Ginny was just so adorable.

The clumsy streak in her always made him laugh, and situations like this never failed to amuse him. The look on her face was funny as well as the fall, because she looked just as bewildered about the whole thing as he was, as though she didn't realize what had happened until she was on the ground, which actually, Harry rather suspected was the truth.

Normally, whenever Ginny tripped, which she did fairly often, Harry would always make sure she was okay before the two of them burst into laughter.

Today though, Harry could see Ginny wasn't about to laugh.

Ginny was angrier at Harry than she thought possible in a situation like this. So what if they normally laughed at her clumsiness? They were in the middle of a fight, didn't he have the decency to... to...not laugh?

Ginny knew her thoughts weren't making sense, and she really had no reason at all to be angry, but something in her snapped.

She scowled at Harry as he started chuckling. As he proceeded to laugh loudly, she glared daggers right through him. Nothing was working, he couldn't even see her anymore.

"Harry James Potter, you wipe that smile off your face before I do it for you!" Ginny said forcefully.

"Gin, I...I'm sor..I'm sorry. It was just...It was so funny! You know I love your clumsiness." Harry said in between laughs. How was he expected to remain serious?

"For your information Mr. Giggles, I am not clumsy, I am gravitationally challenged!" Ginny shouted loudly, fully intending for her statement to sound serious.

It wasn't until after Ginny had said that last comment, and seen the look on Harry's face when she said it, did she realize how funny of a statement that was.

_Your gravitationally challenged? Sure you are genius._

The funniest part, she realized, was that as she said it, she had been dead-serious, which probably made the whole thing funnier.

She glanced at Harry, her lips pulling into a smile, despite the argument seconds earlier. Her gaze locked with Harry's, and before she knew it, they were both clutching their sides laughing.

...

An hour later, Ginny left the apartment and apparated back to the Burrow.

She and Harry had talked about everything that had happened that morning. Harry had of course apologized for what he said, and tried to prove to Ginny how much she meant to him as a friend.

He didn't understand that Ginny wanted more though, and that it was that reason alone that made her so upset. Therefore, even though Ginny was glad she and Harry were friends again, she still felt torn up inside.

The hurt she was feeling didn't really come out until she was back in her room at the Burrow.

She had opened her door, walked in, and sat on her bed to think, looking around at the cheerful light yellow walls. Normally her room made her feel happier and calmer, but it had no effect now as her mind replayed the whole morning. Before she knew it, she was crying on her bed, curled into a cocoon of her limbs pulled as tightly as she could manage into her body.

Everything she felt was fighting to be released all at once with the tears she was shedding, but she felt as though she would never be able to cry enough tears to feel better.

She only had one thought process. _Harry doesn't love me. He only cares for me as a friend. I've been wrong in thinking I could get closer to him._

Nothing seemed to make sense anymore except for those simple thoughts.

After a couple hours, Ginny heard a knock on her bedroom door.

"Go away," she mumbled into her pillow.

Apparently the person at the door didn't hear her because they knocked again.

"I said sod off!" Ginny said a little louder. She didn't care if it sounded rude, in fact, she hoped it sounded rude.

"Ginny! What's wrong?!" Hermione asked as she pushed open the door and rushed over to the bed, apparently having ignored Ginny's "request".

"What are you..._hiccup!.._.doing here Hermione?" Ginny asked distractedly, trying to brush the tears from her face and act casually. It wasn't working.

"I came to look for my purse, I think I left it here last night, but that's beside the point. Why are you crying, tell me what's wrong." Hermione said, pulling Ginny in for a hug, and refusing to let go when Ginny pulled away weakly.

Ginny was about to tell Hermione that nothing was wrong, she merely stubbed her toe very hard, but something stopped her. For one thing, she knew Hermione would never believe a crappy excuse like that, she was two bloody smart. Something else though told Ginny that she should tell Hermione everything.

She wasn't sure why she had the sudden urge to spill her deepest secret to Hermione, but she no longer cared enough to think about it.

She sat up, wiped her eyes and nose, and told Hermione the whole story.

She started by talking about the way she had been feeling around Harry since the day she met him. How every time she was around him, her heart sped up and she tripped on things (not like that was any different than normal...). Then, with teary eyes, she explained how she had overheard Hermione and Harry talking in the kitchen several nights ago and how it had made her lose all hope that Harry would ever love her like she loved him. She told Hermione about the awful pulling feeling in her heart.

Ginny could see tears were building up in Hermione's eyes as well, and she was glad she was sharing this with her, glad that they had become good friends that could share awful moments like this. Unfortunately, Ginny didn't feel like this was just a moment. She was fairly certain the feelings she had now would last quite a while.

She then went on to explain how Harry had moved last night, (which Hermione already knew) and how Ginny had not heard anything about it until this morning, making her feel as though Harry could care less about her, even if she knew that wasn't true.

Ginny was grateful for Hermione that she didn't interrupt and tell Ginny how much she meant to Harry as a friend. Hermione simply allowed Ginny to expose her raw feelings, and Hermione comforted her as best as she could. She knew Ginny had to release these emotions now or things would only get worse, and from the way Ginny described this morning, they couldn't stand to get any worse.

Hermione was also very angry at Harry. She had very strong suspicions that Harry felt exactly the same way for Ginny that Ginny felt for him, but he was denying it. _Stupid boys. _She had known this would create problems, although her solution had been to confront Harry, which had obviously backfired.

Once Ginny had calmed down a little, Hermione pulled back from the hug and said, "Ginny, what if I talked to Harry? From the way things sound, you haven't told Harry how you feel, am I right?"

Ginny looked down sheepishly. "Of course I haven't told him, I already know he would reject me!"

Hermione had expected this. "You don't know that for sure Ginny, he could have been lying to me."

"Why would he lie about that? It's clear he thinks of me as a sister! Look Hermione, I don't care if you think he might possibly feel the same towards me, I will tell you right now he doesn't." Ginny said, sitting up straight, resolve planted firmly across her face.

"Promise me now that you won't tell Harry how I feel." Ginny said, looking into Hermione's eyes intently, showing that she would not change her mind.

Hermione weighted her options. She knew that she couldn't betray Ginny's trust by telling Harry everything, yet at the same time she was almost positive that Harry felt the same towards Ginny. Shouldn't she interfere for the greater good of her friends?

She looked back at Ginny and faltered. Interfering was what had gotten her into this mess, maybe she should sit back and wait for more proof before she told Harry, which she most certainly would do if it seemed right.

In the meantime, Ginny wanted reassurance that Hermione wouldn't tell, and so cautiously, with her fingers crossed behind her back, Hermione promised to keep the secret.

And she would keep it, for a little while at least.

* * *

**Author's Note: **I'm so sorry for the delay there was in putting this chapter up. Like I said, this chapter is mainly transitional, and it is suppose to make things a little better. Some of you are probably smacking you computers yelling that it isn't better at all, but this makes the next chapter possible which will be the one where you all love me again!

Tell me what you thought! The next chapter will be coming soon, to a computer near you!


	14. Chapter 14

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Author's Note:

So as it turns out, the last chapter didn't do much to make people happier. I understand that the angst is getting to you. Well, there are no tricks in this chapter, things will be better at the end! Hang in there, you will all be happy!

**Reminder: **Some people are worried that there will not be a lot of Harry/Ginny story after they get together. There will be! Quite a few chapters in fact, so while this chapter may be the beginning of them, it's not the end, so please hang in there!

* * *

After Ginny had confessed everything to Hermione, she decided that she needed to make some changes in her life.

She could not mope around the Burrow where she would be reminded of Harry daily. She needed something new in her life to keep her occupied.

It was this new mindset, and something that Harry had said during their argument that really had Ginny thinking. He had told her that "he was a grown man, and couldn't keep living in his best mate's mum's house."

Harry was right in his reasoning, Ginny admitted. He was a grown man and he needed his own place, but Ginny was a grown woman and she was still living with her mum!

Ginny knew in the back of her mind that she was rushing things. She had always planned to move out when she earned enough money from the ballet to move into a nice place. She hadn't quite reached her goal yet, so she wouldn't be able to afford the place she originally wanted, but she no longer cared about any of it.

She understood what Harry had felt. She herself felt suffocated by the small cluttered home she had grown up in. She needed a change, and so after a few days of searching, she bought an apartment and moved out of the Burrow.

...

Ginny had moved in quickly. Three days after her argument with Harry, Ginny was already settled in. She had missed a few days of work to do so, but she knew the dance perfectly so she was fine.

The apartment wasn't as small as she originally thought it would have to be for her to afford it. As it turned out, she could afford quite a nice apartment near her ballet studio for a price she would willingly pay.

The flat had a very nice kitchen, a large family room with a fireplace Ginny had set up for the Floo network, two bedrooms, and one bathroom. Ginny was very satisfied with it.

Ginny had told all of her friends she was moving, but she asked them not to help. She told them all that she didn't have many possessions anyway, and she could handle it.

The truth was, Ginny didn't think she could handle spending time with Harry right now. As painful as it was, she was trying to distance herself from him a little, without him noticing of course.

One person refused to let Ginny move alone though; Hermione. She apparated over the day Ginny moved, and told Ginny that she wasn't going anywhere.

After many grumblings about nosy gits who couldn't mind their own business to save their life, Ginny relented and allowed Hermione to help. She gave her the heaviest box to apparate with though.

After all of Ginny's possessions had been transferred to her new apartment, she and Hermione collapsed on a recently purchased couch in the family room. Despite her grumblings earlier, Ginny was grateful that Hermione had helped today.

"So Ginny, how are things?" Hermione asked cautiously. She realized that Ginny probably wasn't doing great, especially since she had acted so quickly in getting a new apartment. That probably meant Ginny was still worked up about Harry.

Ginny eyed Hermione. She knew where this was going, and she was really working hard to not go there. Instead, she said, "Wonderful. I'm thinking about getting a fish tomorrow."

Hermione rolled her eyes inwardly. Typical Ginny to avoid the question. She knew she was never going to get an answer, so instead she moved on to her next question.

"I never asked you, how did things go with Anthony? Are you still seeing him?"

Ginny grimaced. She really hadn't thought much about Anthony since their date, although she did owl him yesterday. She considered blowing that question off as well, but she knew Hermione was only trying to be a good friend, and she might as well clear everything up.

"The date went wonderfully," Ginny said unenthusiastically. "but as much as I like Anthony as a friend, I could never date him, especially considering the fact that I am in love with Harry. It just wouldn't work."

Hermione had suspected as much. She felt bad that her friend was in so much pain, but she was still hopeful that Harry would pull his head out of his arse soon and make a move.

Ginny eyed Hermione again, noticing the look on her friends face that indicated she was deep in thought.

"Hermione, you haven't told Harry I love him right?" Ginny asked, taking a guess at what Hermione was thinking about.

Hermione could feel herself blushing, but she pushed it down. "Of course not Ginny," she said. _At least not yet..._

She fully intended to keep it a secret until she was positive Harry loved Ginny back.

Apparently Ginny was too tired from the day to push the matter any more. She sat back on the couch and closed her eyes, humming slightly under her breath.

The two friends spent the rest of the day relaxing in Ginny's new home.

...

A week had passed since Hermione had helped Ginny move in. It was around 5:30, so Hermione knew the boys would be back from work as she apparated to their flat.

Ron had moved back in the day after Harry had, and Hermione was back to making frequent, if not daily visits.

Before she could even knock on the door, Harry pulled it wide open, grinning slightly.

"How did you..." Hermione started to ask.

"Your pretty predictable." Harry said smiling. He then pointed to his watch. "5:30 on the dot."

Hermione glared at him and pushed her way into the apartment, noticing that Ron was on the couch with a Quidditch magazine. She sat next to him and smiled to herself when she saw him blush slightly. She loved the effect she had on him, she just wished he would make the first move.

Harry quickly joined the two on the couch, and started chatting with Hermione.

Throughout the conversation, Hermione noticed that Harry looked distracted. He would break off in the middle of a sentence, and his face would crumble up in deep thought.

"Are you okay Harry?" Hermione asked gently. "You seem to be thinking of something."

Harry looked up when Hermione said that. She could always read him so well, but did she know what he was thinking about now...or rather, who? He decided he might as well ask her what had been on his mind.

"Nothing really. I was just wondering though, have you seen Ginny lately? She seems to be avoiding me." Harry asked Hermione, working hard to keep his voice level, and the worry out of it.

Hermione bit her lip. She knew Ginny was avoiding Harry, in fact, Ginny had told Hermione that she was going to put distance between herself and Harry, unfortunately, now Harry was working out what was going on. She decided to deny it, after all, she wasn't ready to spill Ginny's secret yet.

"I saw her a week ago when she moved, but she has been very busy with the ballet lately." Hermione said. It was partly true at least.

"Oh," Harry said. He suspected as much. "She's probably really preoccupied with her new boyfriend too," He grumbled, not realizing that he had said those thoughts out loud.

It took Hermione a minute to understand that Harry was referring to Anthony. Something about this whole situation was infuriating. Harry was obviously jealous of Anthony, considering the tone his voice had as he said "boyfriend," so why couldn't he just admit it?

Hermione was getting angry. How dare Harry be upset with Ginny for avoiding him, and then blame it on a boyfriend she didn't have! Why did he insist on keeping everything locked inside of him?

"Harry you are a bloody prat, do you know that?!" Hermione exploded. She noticed that Ron had looked up at this outburst with a look of shock, but she pushed it away.

"What are you talking about Hermione?" Harry asked carefully. He had no idea what he had done to set Hermione off like this.

"I'm talking about you! You just accused Ginny of avoiding you to spend time with someone she's not even interested in!" Hermione shouted.

"She isn't dating Anthony?" Harry asked relieved, forgetting that Hermione was yelling at him.

"No of course she isn't dating him. How could she when she's in love with _you!? _You of course wouldn't know that though because you distanced yourself from her just like she did to you! The two of you make me sick! Why can't you just admit to each other that you love each other? It's not that hard, you both seem to be obsessed with the other anyway!" Hermione ranted. She wasn't even looking at Harry anymore.

Part of her felt guilty for spilling Ginny's secret so soon, but it hardly registered. Harry needed to hear this. They were both being prats and it was her job to fix that.

"Hermione, what makes you think that Ginny loves me?" Harry asked quietly. He had let himself hope for a minute when Hermione was yelling, but there was no way she could be right.

"For God's sake Harry! She has been moping around her flat all week thinking about you! Not to mention, she _told me _she loves you, but she of course is convinced that you don't love her back, so I wasn't allowed to tell you!" Hermione said with a huff.

Harry's eyes widened. "Why does she think I don't love her? I thought I was being too obvious sometimes!" He had tried to hide it though.

Hermione took a deep breath, apparently to calm herself. "She thinks you don't love her, because she overheard you telling me you don't!! What did you think? Honestly, this whole thing is your fault Harry, why did you have to deny how you felt towards her? If you had admitted your feelings from the start, none of this would have happened!"

It wasn't like Hermione to place blame like this, and Harry realized that he had really messed up. He had been so stupid to lie to Hermione about his feelings. Chances were, she knew he was lying the whole time.

Harry sat immobile on the couch for several seconds. He couldn't believe how out of hand things had gotten!

Then he came to his senses. Ginny loved him, and he loved her! Yet, they were avoiding each other thinking they would be rejected. He needed to fix this, now, and he could think of a perfect way to do it.

He stood up from the couch so quickly that the blood rushed to his head, but he hardly cared. He ran to the middle of the room, spun around, and apparated to Ginny's new apartment.

From the couch, Hermione and Ron watched. Hermione was satisfied that things seemed to be finally getting through Harry's thick skull. Ron on the other hand looked shocked.

"Gi..Ginny is in l..lo..love with Harry?" Ron asked, stuttering in disbelief of the scene he had just witnessed.

"Yes Ronald, and Harry loves her back," she said gleefully. She giggled as she noticed that the look on Ron's face probably wasn't going to go away any time soon.

...

Ginny was sitting on the couch in her apartment with a large tub of chocolate marshmallow frozen yogurt. She had read a Muggle novel once in which the main character, a teenage girl, gets her heart broken. Her solution to the problem had been to eat a lot of ice cream.

Ginny had always thought the idea sounded preposterous. Ice cream wouldn't heal her heart, but after a week of moping, she decided to give it a shot...she would try pretty much anything at this point. However, she had opted for frozen yogurt instead of ice cream...it sounded silly to have to gain weight to feel better.

She had to say, the ice cream was making her happier, or that could be the sugar rush. Either way, she wasn't as depressed as she had been.

Just as she finished her snack, and had put her spoon in the sink, she heard a loud _pop _come from outside indicating someone had just apparated.

Seconds later she heard the doorbell.

She figured it was Hermione again. She hadn't seen the girl in a week, and by this point Hermione was probably coming to make sure Ginny hadn't choked to death alone or something. T_hat would be depressing, _Ginny thought with a shudder as she walked over towards the door.

She glanced into the mirror that hung right next to her door. _Merlin! I look awful! _

Her hair was thrown up into a messy bun, and pieces were falling out. Her face didn't look too bad, mainly because it was clean and fresh, but her eyes were slightly red. She was dressed in yoga pants and a sports bra, too lazy to put real clothes on.

_Good thing it's just Hermione, _she thought to herself as she noticed her clothes. At least, it had better be Hermione.

She unlocked the door and pulled it open, not bothering to check through the peep hole.

...

Harry stood at Ginny's door waiting as he rang the doorbell. He was determined to get things settled, whether Ginny wanted to listen or not.

As she pulled the door open, Harry took in the look of surprise on Ginny's face when she saw it was Harry. Apparently she hadn't looked who it was first.

Harry was stopped for a second from doing what he came to do when he saw Ginny. _Merlin, does she know she is this beautiful?_

It looked like she had just gotten out of bed, but there was something about her that radiated beauty anyway. Her hair was in a messy bun, but there were pieces that hung down, framing her face in soft curls. Her face was clear of any make-up, but she looked perfect anyway, her bright blue eyes shining like always.

Her clothes in particular made Harry halt in his tracks. _Is it hot in here, or is that just me? _He thought frantically as he began to sweat. Ginny was wearing a sports bra and yoga pants that did justice to her body, although Harry suspected she had put them on for comfort more than anything.

He shook his head to get rid of the images that were taking over. Images of him holding Ginny, his hands on her hips, on her back, on her bum...

_Pull it together! Be a man! Well, not that much man, no need to be uncomfortable now._

"Harry, what are you doing here?" Ginny asked quietly, almost shyly.

That was it. Harry was a goner.

He closed the space of three feet between himself and Ginny in one step, and pulled her to him in a fierce passionate kiss.

To Ginny, the kiss was like the end of the world, but it also felt like the beginning of the world. Was it possible to feel the end and beginning of the world in one kiss?

Harry pulled Ginny in tighter until she was completely against his body, deepening the kiss.

_Oh yeah_, she thought _it's definitely possible._

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**Author's Note: **Please review and tell me what you think! I hope that made people feel a litle better. Even more on its way!


	15. Chapter 15

**Author's Note: **Thank you so much to all of the readers! I'm glad that you stuck with me this far, and I hope you were happy with the ending of the last chapter. Now it's time for some Harry/Ginny fluff! I know this is what you have all been hoping for after the ending of the last chapter, so enjoy!

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In Ginny's opinion, the kiss ended far too soon.

In reality, they had been locked together at the lips for at least three minutes.

When they finally pulled apart, Ginny couldn't help the feeling of disappointment she had at the kiss being over. From the look on Harry's face, he felt the same way.

Ginny breathed in deeply through her nose, and released the air through her mouth. She had heard once that this was supposed to help calm people, but she could still feel her heart racing one hundred beats per second.

She cleared her throat and shifted the weight from her left foot to her right.

"So, that was a pretty decent greeting," Ginny said sarcastically.

Harry's face split into a huge grin at this.

"It was only pretty decent for you? From my end, things were going pretty bloody spectacular!" Harry said as soon as he could pull a straight face.

Ginny pretended to consider this information.

"Well that may be, but as far as I'm concerned, your execution was a little sloppy," she said with a large smile.

Harry couldn't say anything. He was smiling so hard that Ginny was worried his face would crack open.

After several minutes of grinning at each other in the doorway, Ginny sobered up and asked Harry in.

They walked into the living room and sat down together on one couch facing each other.

"Not that I'm complaining or anything," Ginny began, "but what the hell is going on?"

Harry backed up a little. He had forgotten in his excitement that Ginny still thought he didn't love her. Hopefully their kiss had changed that a little, but he still needed to explain himself.

"Right, well, where do I begin?" he muttered to himself.

"Hermione came over to mine and Ron's flat this afternoon, and we were talking when I asked her where you had been all week. I'm not exactly sure what happened, but I think I said something stupid, and she got angry and told me that you were in love with me, and that you thought I didn't love you, and that's why you had been avoiding me...actually she screamed it at me, but you get the point." Harry said quickly.

Ginny's face had fallen as soon as Harry mentioned Hermione's name.

She knew where this was going...Hermione had blabbed. Judging by Harry's kiss however, this wasn't altogether a bad thing.

Ginny cringed slightly when Harry said that she was in love with him, it sounded so third grade, that is if third graders fell in love with each other.

"Anyway, I was shocked because all this time, I've been thinking that you wanted nothing to do with me other than a friend. Remember the night we met when I asked you out? You turned me down, so I figured after that, there was no way you would date me now that you knew I was your brother's best mate." Harry continued with his explanation.

"Gin, I have wanted to be with you since we first met, and it was killing me to be so close to you, and not be able to kiss or hug you. In fact, that's the real reason I moved out. The night you went on that date with Anthony killed me. I couldn't stay around any longer and watch you date any man other than me. Sorry I didn't tell you that originally...I really do care for you Ginny." Harry winded down.

Ginny felt infinitely times better than moments ago.

Harry had wanted to be with her all along, they had both just been to blind and stupid to realise it. As weird as it sounded, she was also very happy that he had moved out because she went on a date, it just showed how much he cared for her.

She felt so happy she could burst, but she contained herself.

"Harry, I didn't mean to turn you down the day we met. I wanted to go out with you right from the beginning, but I had this crazy idea in my head that night that you only wanted to date me because I was normal. I wasn't gorgeous like the supermodels you could date, I wasn't the smartest witch out there, I didn't even have a job in the Wizarding World, so I figured, the only reason you wanted to take me out was so that you could go out with someone ordinary. I guess that sounds a little silly, and I didn't realise until it was too late that I had ruined my chances." Ginny paused for a breath.

"When I saw you in the kitchen the next day, I knew I would never have another chance. You would think of me as a little sister or a friend from then on. I tried really hard to think of you as only a friend, and you were a great friend, but I always wanted more. That's why I eventually broke down and dated Anthony. I figured, if I couldn't date you, I might as well go on a date with someone." Ginny finished, looking deeply into Harry's eyes.

"Ginny, you have never been ordinary to me!" Harry said outraged. "In fact you were anything _but _ordinary. You were funny, and smart, and talented, and gorgeous, and I had only known you for two minutes! There isn't one person out there like you. When I got to know you better, I realised that there could never be anyone like you because all of your qualities are uniquely you, as cliche as that sounds. I want you, whether you think your ordinary or not...and I'm telling you right now, your not." Harry said passionately.

Ginny felt tears come to her eyes but she pushed them back impatiently.

Throwing caution to the wind, she leaned in towards Harry, fully intending to snog the daylights out of him.

He beat her to it though, and his lips attacked hers before she even knew he was within two inches of her face. She settled for second place, and pushed her fingers into the hair at the nape of his neck.

He groaned a little beneath her mouth as she dug her fingers through his hair, and she smiled knowing that she was doing this to him.

Harry's hands were roaming across her bare back, and she was glad for the first time that day that she had only worn a sports bra. Harry seemed happy by it too.

Ginny soon felt that there was too much space between them. She stood up on her knees, never breaking contact with Harry's lips, and sat on his lap, wrapping her legs around his waist.

He smiled into the kiss at this, and deepened it by running his tongue along her bottom lip. Her mouth opened immediately without question, as she wondered to herself why she hadn't thought of doing that.

She decided that Harry tasted like chocolate and mint, a very good combination in her opinion.

It wasn't long after that both Harry and Ginny pulled apart with desperation for air. As soon as her eyes opened, Ginny saw Harry grinning at her, and she couldn't help but grin back. Why fight it? She was so completely happy, that she felt like nothing could increase the way she was feeling.

Harry's arms wrapped around her back, pulling her close to him. Ginny leaned her forehead against his and looked deeply into his emerald eyes.

"Has anyone ever told you how unbelievably gorgeous your eyes are?" Harry asked, surprising Ginny as she was just thinking the same about his.

"Maybe, but no one has ever said it quite like you," Ginny said with a teasing smile.

"Good, let's keep it that way," Harry said, rubbing her cheek with his thumb.

"Can do," Ginny whispered as she lent into his hand.

"Merlin, I'm so in love with you Gin," Harry whispered.

Ginny's eyes flew open. _Did he just say what I think he said? _**I..I don't know! **_Should we check?! _**How do you propose we do that, rewind the tape of your life a few seconds? **_Can we...can we do that? _**No we cannot bloody do that! Honestly! **_Just checking! No need to keep that stick up your butt!_

If Ginny was happy seconds ago, it was nothing compared to the way she felt now.

Ginny was pulled from her thoughts as she looked into Harry's eyes.

He looked so serious, and so passionate, that part of her was a little scared. What if she messed this up?

She shook her silly fears away, and let herself drown in his gaze.

"Well, it seems Hermione already told you how I feel," Ginny said, suddenly grateful for her meddlesome friend.

"She might have, I can't really remember though. Why don't you remind me?" Harry asked teasingly.

"I can't stand the sight of you," Ginny said quietly, a large smile on her face.

Harry pulled a wounded puppy look onto his face. "Is that really the way you talk to your boyfriend?"

Ginny was caught once again at the words boyfriend. How was it that she was getting everything she wanted? It wasn't fair, not that she was going to complain about it!

"I love you Harry James Potter," Ginny said quietly, looking into his eyes only after she had finished.

"I love you Ginny Molly Weasley, more than you could ever know," Harry said, his eyes portraying everything he felt.

Ginny was complete. With those simple words, she knew that she would always be safe and happy in Harry's arms.

Harry pulled her in to kiss her. His lips touched hers softly at first, but deepened soon enough.

Once again, Ginny felt her world stop and end.

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**Author's Note: **I really, really, really, hope you guys enjoyed that! It sounds like the end of the story but it's not, I promise. There are many chapters yet to come. Tell me what you thought of this one so I can get the next one out sooner!

Love, Bella


	16. Chapter 16

**Author's Note: **Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed on the last chapter! I'm so sorry that I haven't updated in such a long time! I went to France for two weeks, and then school started. There will be much more frequent updates! I promise at the end of the story, to mention everyone who has brightened my day with their review! For now, enjoy the story!

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Ginny woke up groggily, feeling warmer but lighter than she could remember ever feeling before.

She attempted to stretch before she realized that she couldn't...an arm had her trapped. She glanced around and noticed that she was in her living room rather than her bedroom, and she was lying on the couch, with Harry right beside her.

Sheepishly, she looked up into Harry's face and smiled when she saw him smiling back.

"How long did I fall asleep for?" she asked, breathless when she saw him absently playing with a strand of her hair.

"Only about an hour." Harry replied. "You looked like you really needed the sleep," he added when he saw Ginny get upset.

"Well gee thanks," Ginny muttered. "You sure know how to make a girl feel good."

Harry just gave her a lopsided smile in response.

Ginny snuggled even deeper into Harry, if that was possible. She leaned back and smiled when she felt him rub her back lightly.

_If he keeps this up, I'll never want to move, **well, that's actually a good idea, let's not move, **hmm...okay!_

Just as Ginny's eyes were closing again, she heard the tell tale _pop _that signaled someone had apparated right outside her door.

Opening one eye suspiciously, she looked up at Harry wondering if he too had heard the noise. Within seconds, the apparation noise no longer mattered as Ginny and Harry were both scared half to death by a frantic pounding being issued upon the door.

Ginny leapt out of Harry's lap with a squeak and fell onto the floor. She glanced up with a look in her eyes that dared him to laugh at her, but it wasn't necessary. Harry was already jogging to the door in an attempt to stop whoever was on the other side from breaking it down.

Ginny watched as Harry looked through the peep hole, (something she never really bothered with) and stepped back with a look of despair written across his face.

"Oh, bugger." he said, more to himself than to Ginny.

Just as Ginny was about to ask who was there, Harry pulled the door open dismally. When Ginny saw the flaming red hair on top of a very tall body, she had to agree with Harry's previous statement. "Oh, bugger."

Standing in the doorway, with a look of pure madness etched upon his face, stood Ron.

Ginny inched over to Harry, determined to be near him in case a quick escape was needed.

Before she got to ask Ron what was going on, he answered for her.

"I want an honest answer from the two of you. Are you, or are you not _together?" _he said, with steam practically spilling from his ears. Ginny could hear him say the word _together_, with hesitation, almost as though he were afraid of it.

Ginny was about to reply that it was none of Ron's business when Harry beat her to the chase and replied, "Yes Ron, Ginny and I are together."

All Ginny could do was stare up at Harry with her mouth hanging open. It wasn't that she was mad at Harry for telling Ron, but she hadn't expected him to say it so calmly and sincerely. Truth be told, she was kind of liking it.

Ron seemed a little shocked at Harry's response also. Apparently he was expecting one of them to deny it. The revelation seemed to have blown the steam right out of him.

"Oh, well... I um..." Ron cleared his throat nervously. "I...I don't remember giving my permission," Ron said, standing up as he said this as though he suddenly felt more confident.

Ginny's eyes flashed. She stalked over to stand right in front of him. She wanted to get as into his face as she could.

"When the _hell _have I ever asked, needed, or wanted your permission for _anything!? _Where do you get off thinking that I need your permission to be with someone?" Ginny shrieked.

Ron's eyes widened with fear. He realized now that he probably shouldn't have angered Ginny in this way. He might not make it out of there...

"Okay, okay, I take it back. You don't need my permission." Ron gave in before things got worse. Years of experience with Ginny told him things would always get worse unless he apologized. He couldn't help but mumble though, "it would have been nice to at least have a head's up."

Ginny tried to calm herself with very deep breaths. She knew Ron was just looking out for her, in fact it was sweet. It was also very annoying though and he didn't have a right to demand to know who she was dating. _Damn, you've worked yourself up again._

She attempted the breathing again before she replied, "Ron, things were kind of a mess up until this afternoon. We would have told you when we were ready."

Ron's eyes softened a bit as he realized what Ginny was saying was true. With a deep sigh he admitted, "Maybe I got a little worked up, I just hate seeing you sneaking around with someone. I thought that's what the two of you were doing."

Ginny turned her face into Harry's shoulder to stop herself from screaming at Ron. She really didn't want this to end badly. Harry however, seemed unable to control himself.

"Don't you trust us at all Ron? Do you really think I would be sneaking around with Ginny in a bad way? Your supposed to be my mate!" Harry said loudly.

"Just because I am being protective of Ginny doesn't mean I don't trust you mate, but I didn't know what to think. Hermione starts yelling at you in the apartment saying that Ginny loves you, and next thing I know, your apparating over here! It's not my fault I was the last to know!" Ron said in response.

"Technically, you weren't the last one to know, I was," Ginny said lifting her head from Harry's shoulder. "Hermione sort of interferred, so that's how she knew everything."

Ron seemed to understand how this could happen.

"Yeah, she...she told me what happened. I guess now that I know you guys aren't trying to hide anything I can say congratulations. If it has to be someone, I'm glad it's you Harry...but if you ever hurt Ginny, I will..."

"Don't finish that sentence Ron," Ginny said hurriedly. She didn't want any pressure on Harry to be with her, and what Ron was going to say definitely classified as pressure.

Ron seemed to struggle with his need to warn Harry, and his desire to escape the wrath of Ginny. In the end, Ginny's glare won, and Ron backed out of the apartment with hasty goodbyes.

Once he was gone, and Ginny had closed the apartment door, Harry encircled her in his arms.

"You know, I can handle whatever Ron wants to threaten me with right?" he asked as he placed his chin on the top of Ginny's head. It fit perfectly.

"I know..." Ginny said off-handedly, too distracted by Harry's scent to pay much attention.

"No seriously Gin, he can threaten me all he wants, because I'm not planning on ever letting you get hurt, especially by me." Harry said as he leaned back from Ginny to look into her eyes.

Ginny could feel tears welling up in her eyes, but she blinked them back before they could escape. She doubted anyone ever felt as loved and completely happy as she did at this moment.

Harry and Ginny made their way back to the couch where they spent the rest of the night.

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**Author's Note: **I'm sorry that the chapter is a little short, especially after my prolonged absence, but the next part doesn't fit in with this. I promise the next chapter will be longer, and it will come out much sooner!


	17. Chapter 17

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**

Author's Note:

Sorry again for the extended absence. Lots of stuff going on and all that...

Anyway, enjoy chapter 17!

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_Three months later..._

Harry and Ginny were lying together on the couch in Ginny's apartment like always. It had quickly become their favorite place to just lounge around with one another. Sometimes they spent hours just lying next to each other on that couch.

Harry smiled as Ginny stretched her legs and wrapped them over his. Without even thinking about it, he wrapped his arms tighted around her, pulling her as close as he could.

Moments like these were common between Harry and Ginny, so common in fact that his actions were a reflex, although that didn't make them any less meaningful. He instinctively wanted to pull Ginny closer to him now because he always did, and as far as he could tell, he always would.

Harry often thought back to the first months that he had known Ginny. He constantly beat himself up over hiding his feelings for her, because if he hadn't he wouldn't have wasted so much time. Not that it really mattered, he had forever to spend with Ginny, but it was still annoying.

Ginny groaned as the little alarm Harry had set on his watch went off, signaling that he had to leave. Every Friday night, along with Tuesdays and Sundays, Harry watched his godson Teddy Lupin so that his grandmother could go to work.

Ginny had met Teddy soon after she and Harry became a couple. He was a big part of Harry's life, and Ginny loved him immediately. Apparently the feeling was mutual between her and the little boy, because Teddy constantly asked to be taken to "Gin-e's" house. Harry accused Ginny of spoiling little Teddy, which was probably true.

Fridays were different from Tuesdays and Sundays though because Fridays were the days Harry took Teddy out, just the two of them. He said he wanted Teddy to feel like he had a father figure to do things with. The love and care that Harry devoted to Teddy was just one of the things Ginny loved about him.

The alarm Harry had set was the time he needed to go pick Teddy up. Ginny was happy he would get to see Ted, she was just a little disappointed that she had to get off of him.

With another dramatic groan, and a good deal of fake effort, Ginny lifted herself from the couch and Harry's arms.

She turned around to walk Harry to the door when she felt her foot get caught on the carpeting.

_Ah, bloody hell._

Right as she closed her eyes preparing for the impact of her forehead on the flooring, she felt two arms snake around her waist, halting her free fall.

She looked up gratefully and sheepishly into Harry's eyes and noticed he was laughing. Her falls were pretty frequent, and she was always surprised when Harry caught her, despite the fact that he never let her fall when he was with her. She was just so used to falling on her face that she hadn't gotten used to being saved all the time.

"Careful love," Harry said through his laughs.

He kissed Ginny on the forehead and grabbed her hand. Together they walked to the door, Ginny dragging her feet as much as possible.

Once they got there, Harry pulled Ginny into his arms and kissed her deeply. "I'll call you tonight," he said as he pulled back.

"Okay, tell Teddy I say Hi," Ginny replied dazedly.

"Sure thing. I love you," Harry said as his arms dropped from Ginny's side.

"I love you too," Ginny replied with a large smile. Every time Harry said he loved her she got happier.

Harry turned away with a smile. He was getting ready to apparate when Ginny remembered something.

"Wait, Harry, you remember we're going to the Burrow tomorrow for dinner right?" Ginny asked, praying that Harry remembered and didn't have to work.

"Of course I remember hun," Harry said, his smile growing larger for some strange reason. "I'll swing by and get you tomorrow night."

"Okay. Have fun with Teddy! I'll see you later." Ginny answered in relief. She loved how Harry always remembered things like this, even stuff as unimportant as dinner at her mum's house.

Harry waved goodbye and spun on the spot, apparating to the Tonks' residence.

Inwardly he was cracking up. He was so proud of himself for pulling off the plan and not letting anything slip to Ginny.

Ginny was turning 19 tomorrow, and Harry had wanted to throw her a party. Of course when Ginny caught wind of this plan, she put a stop to it immediately. Harry was determined however, and so he decided to simply throw her a surprise party instead.

He had talked with Mrs. Weasley about it two weeks ago when they had gone over for Sunday night dinner. Mrs. Weasley had been very pleased with the idea, and helped Harry out by inviting both Harry and Ginny over for "dinner" on the night of Ginny's birthday. Of course, it would actually be a party, but Ginny was luckily still clueless.

Harry was still smiling to himself as he arrived at Andromeda Tonks'.

...

The next evening, Ginny stood in her bathroom putting on a bracelet Harry had given her on their one month anniversary. She smiled to herself at the memory.

Before long, she heard Harry's knock on the front door.

She ran out of the bathroom and skipped to the door, opening it widely where she found Harry standing with a bouquet of yellow roses.

"Happy Birthday love," he said kissing her deeply.

Ginny couldn't help the large smile that was growing on her face. That is until her attention was brought back to the flowers...and the fact that it was her birthday.

Not that she really minded her birthday, in fact she was glad she was getting older, she liked it. What she didn't like however, was all of the attention given to people on their birthdays. She didn't like being in the spotlight for too long (unless she was dancing of course).

She emitted a small groan as she accepted the flowers from Harry, who only smiled wider.

"You know, it's not like this is considered as special treatment really," Harry said with a lopsided grin, "I get you flowers all the time."

"True," Ginny conceded, "but these are my favorite which means that they are sort of special."

Harry couldn't help but laugh at Ginny's backed up logic. He understood what she was saying, but her response was so different from normal girls. This was one of the many things he loved about her.

With large smiles, the happy couple apparated together to the Burrow.

Once they arrived, Harry's eyes trailed around the property making sure nothing made it obvious that there was a party. He wanted it to be a complete surprise.

As they approached the door, he couldn't help but feel nervous. What if Ginny hated this? He knew she generally didn't like parties, but he didn't think she would mind once she got inside and saw all of her friends and family. No one there would make her feel uncomfortable he was sure.

Harry knocked hesitantly, listening hard to see if he could hear people's voices. Mrs. Weasley came to the door with a large smile and hugged both Ginny and Harry tightly.

After greeting them both properly she led them to the kitchen where she said Arthur was.

Harry had come over earlier to set up the decorations, and he knew that all of the guests would be hiding in the kitchen. His hands started to get sweaty as they walked to the back of the tiny house.

With a deep breath and a smile towards Ginny who lovingly smiled back, they approached the kitchen and followed Mrs. Weasley taking a step inside.

"SURPRISE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY GINNY!" came a chorus of voices throughout the kitchen.

Ginny jumped about a foot in the air and gave a yell of surprise.

_Well I guess that was the idea, _Harry thought with a smile.

As Ginny's family and friends came rushing towards her shouting "congratulations", and more "happy birthdays" Ginny turned around and glared at Harry.

For a second, Harry felt like he had made a huge mistake, but he soon saw the large grin building on Ginny's face. As she was pulled away from him into the crowd, he saw her mouth "I love you" to him.

As soon as she turned away, he sighed a huge sigh of relief. Despite her earlier warnings against a party, she seemed to be happy now.

Harry walked over towards Ron and Hermione when he saw them in the corner chatting. He knew Ginny would probably be awhile as she was currently talking with Fred and George.

Harry couldn't help but smile when he saw how red Ron was after Hermione made a comment to him. Harry and Ginny had both been watching Ron and Hermione for the past month, trying to push them together. They figured it was the least they could do after Hermione's "help" getting them together as a couple.

So far, they hadn't done much...well they hadn't really done anything productive to get their two friends together. They made a lot of plans, but they always ended up on Ginny's couch cuddling, and the plans were usually forgotten soon after. They kept telling themselves they would do something soon though...Hermione and Ron clearly belonged together.

"Hey guys. Are you enjoying the party?" Harry asked as he made his way to his two best friends.

"Well I only got here 10 minutes ago, but it's so lovely in here! You and Mrs. Weasley did a wonderful job on the decorations!" Hermione beamed as she looked around appreciatively at all of the lights and flowers that were placed around the room.

"Yeah," Ron said in agreement, "I didn't even recognize my own kitchen, and I practically lived in here growing up."

"We know, in fact, you still do," Harry added with a slight roll of the eyes.

The party continued in full swing for several hours. Harry and Ginny had made their way outside where there was music playing, and they were dancing along with other couples and friends.

Harry was glad to see that Ginny had a large smile on her face the whole night. He loved that he had been able to make her happy.

As it got later and several people started to head home, Harry looked around wondering where his two friends had gone off to.

"Hey Gin, have you seen Hermione or Ron around? I haven't seen them for hours!" Harry asked.

Ginny lifted her head from Harry's shoulder. They had been slow dancing, but as she heard Harry's question, Ginny stopped moving, effectively ending their dance.

Harry saw Ginny's eyes widen and noticed as she started biting her lip. He knew that she only did this when she was nervous. What did she have to be nervous about?

"Well, actually Harry, you know how we have been talking about getting them together?" Ginny started slowly.

Harry nodded slightly with a speculative look in his eye. What was Ginny up to?

"Okay, well, I was talking to them earlier, and I couldn't stand it any longer. Hermione kept looking at Ron with puppy dog eyes, and Ron would blush every time she talked to him! It was so aggravating!" Ginny said exasperated.

Harry had a feeling that this was going to be hilarious. He managed to hide his laugh as he asked, "So what did you do?"

Ginny looked down and kicked at the grass. Harry could see her face was bright red. This was definitely going to be good.

"Um, I, well, you see,...I took away their wands and locked them into the upstairs broom closet." Ginny mumbled under her breath.

Harry was shocked. He couldn't believe Ginny had done that, not that he was complaining, it had to be the funniest thing he ever heard! Still though, he didn't realize Ginny was that serious about getting Ron and Hermione together!

Ginny saw the look on Harry's face and smiled widely. "Well I am the birthday girl, I can do whatever I want today." she reasoned.

Harry couldn't keep his laugh in any longer. He kissed Ginny before grabbing her hand and leading her upstairs to release their friends.

Once they were standing outside the door of the broom closet, they paused to listen for any sounds. Sadly they heard nothing.

"Hermione is probably lecturing Ron about the 12 uses of Dragon's blood or something," Ginny said was a sad sigh. She was desperately hoping her friends would just get over whatever was keeping them apart.

Harry laughed at Ginny's joke, and stood next to her as she waved her wand and said "alohamora".

The door swung open, and Harry and Ginny were frozen to their spots as they saw Hermione on Ron's lap, the two kissing in the back of the closet.

Ginny squealed, partly with excitement, and partly with shock. It was enough to alert the couple inside that they had an audience though.

Hermione looked up and squealed similarly to Ginny. She jumped away from Ron, who was bright red and smiling like a fool.

The two shuffled out of the closet sheepishly, and Hermione merely said, "Happy Birthday Ginny. See you both tomorrow," as she led Ron and the two ran away embarassed.

Ginny and Harry looked at each other before cracking up. They leaned on each other for support when they were both short of breath and their sides hurt.

As happy as they were for their friends, they were definitely not expecting what they saw to happen.

...

"Ginny, you are a genius," Harry whispered in her ear that night as he was saying goodbye to her before going home.

"It's a blessing and a curse," Ginny said, pretending to shake her head distraught.

Harry chuckled and took her face in his hands before kissing her deeply.

"Goodnight love, Happy Birthday."

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**Author's Note: **PLEASE REVIEW! Thanks!


	18. Chapter 18

**Author's Note: **Hey everyone! I"M BACK!!! My computer has been broken for a month and a half, and I was worried I would lose everything and have to get a new computer, but it's working again! On that note, I'm sorry it's been so long since I have posted a new chapter. I really hope I haven't lost any readers, but I can understand if I have. Anyway, here's a new chapter...ENJOY!

* * *

The next morning, Ginny was getting ready for practice when she heard her front door open, and someone saying her name. She recognized the voice to be Harry's, but she wondered why he was at her apartment so early in the morning. They normally didn't see each other until after Harry finished work, although they did send many owls to each other throughout the day.

Ginny walked out to the front room and gasped in surprise when she felt Harry's arms wrap around her from behind. She turned around with a grin, and saw Harry's smile matching hers.

_I absolutely love mornings like this.... _Ginny thought dreamily to herself.

"Morning love," Harry said quietly, still smiling.

Ginny could hardly manage to say hi back to him, his eyes were so deep that she was getting caught up in them, plus her knees were starting to feel weak.

_Pull it together girl, you've been dating him for months, get over yourself! _**He's just so cute though, don't try to tell me you don't notice! **_Of course I notice, but I don't stand there like an idiot, SAY SOMETHING to him before he thinks you've gone brain damaged._

Ginny cleared her throat, and her thoughts. "What are you doing here so early Harry?" she asked so softly it was practically a whisper.

"How would you feel if we both took off from work today?" Harry asked, praying to Merlin's beard that she would be okay with his plan.

Ginny practically jumped in the air and whooped. She wasn't really needed at work today, they were just painting sets, and she wanted to spend time with Harry. All in all it sounded wonderful to her.

"I could do that..." Ginny said with a smile, holding back the urge to run around the room in excitement. Her thoughts came to a pause. "What did you want to do today?" she asked, curious as to Harry's reason for playing hooky.

"I have something planned," Harry said secretively, "plus, I never got a chance to give you your birthday present yesterday."

Ginny groaned out loud. "I was really hoping you would forget about that little tradition all together."

"No such luck I'm afraid," Harry said, smiling at Ginny's odd aversion to gifts and birthdays.

The happy couple apparated to their destination, Ginny holding onto Harry's arm since she did not know where they were headed.

They landed in a field that was covered in flowers and surrounded by thick tall trees. Ginny looked around herself in wonder. There were soft glowing lights everywhere, even though it was early in the morning, and she saw a blanket laid out near the middle of the field with a basket on top.

She looked up into Harry's eyes, and smiled. He was the sweetest most thoughtful boyfriend she could ever imagine, and she felt so lucky that he had chosen her of all people to be with.

"This is an amazing place," she said happily.

"I think so too, I've been coming here a lot since I found it. It's a really good place to just relax and think about things." Harry said, looking around at the field, and then back into Ginny's eyes.

"When did you find it, where are we?" Ginny asked, her questions shooting out as they made their way to the picnic basket and blanket.

"I found it during my fourth year at Hogwarts. I was in the Triwizard tournament, and I was feeling very stressed, so one day during a Hogsmead trip, I snuck away from everyone and took a long walk. I guess I just sort of found myself here. We're pretty deep in the woods near Hogsmead." Harry said, trying to answer Ginny's questions.

Ginny smiled. She was really touched that Harry was sharing such an important place to him with her.

Harry sat down on the blanket, and pulled Ginny onto his lap before she could sit down. She much preferred this to the blanket.

The couple ate, and joked, and talked for hours, loving the fact that they were spending time together in such a calming, beautiful place.

After a while, Harry sat up, and reached into his pocket to pull out a rectangular, flat, wrapped box.

Ginny eyed the gift suspiciously. When Harry handed it to her smiling and saying "Happy Birthday," she couldn't help but roll her eyes jokingly...well mostly jokingly.

With a sigh, she tore off the wrapping paper and lifted the lid of the box. She gasped when she saw a beautiful necklace laying on thin tissue paper inside.

Lifting the delicate chain out of the box, she examined it more closely. It was made of gold, and had a very thin chain with two hearts dangling at the end. One heart was solid gold and had the words _I love you _engraved on a fancy script. The other heart was gold on the outside, but seemed to be hollow; like a locket. She pulled it open and saw a picture her mother had taken of her and Harry kissing. It was one of her favorite pictures.

Ginny looked up at Harry with tears in her eyes which she blinked back immediately. She couldn't decide whether to tackle him in a hug, or jump up and kiss him, so instead she sat there smiling like a fool.

Harry smiled too when he saw she was happy, and he leaned over to kiss her. "Happy birthday love," he whispered between kisses.

When she came up for air, Ginny managed to ask a few questions she had on her mind.

"Where did you get this?" she asked reverently. She had never seen something so beautifully made. She could tell it was rather expensive looking, and she hoped he hadn't spent too much.

Harry looked at her with a sheepish smile. "It was my mum's actually," he said quietly.

Ginny's eyes widened. "Really?" she asked. "It's gorgeous!"

"My dad had it made for her as a wedding gift. Remus once told me she never took it off. When they died, I was left with everything, and I thought this was the perfect gift for you." Harry said quietly, thinking of his parents, and Remus, and everyone else who had been killed in the war.

_I will never take this necklace off either, _Ginny thought determinedly. _It's just so special._

Ginny grasped Harry's hand gently, knowing that he was thinking about his parents. He looked gratefully into her eyes, and kissed her gently.

The two spent some more time in the field kissing and talking. They apparated to Ginny's apartment just as it was getting dark.

* * *

_Two weeks later..._

Harry rushed through his and Ron's apartment grabbing everything he needed for the day. Wand, camera, tie, suit jacket. He ran into the front room where Ron was waiting with similar items in hand.

Together, the two men apparated to a designated area behind a church near a Muggle village. They were 10 minutes late, so they rushed into the church's back entrance, and ran through the tiny hall into the room at the back where they knew Hermione and Ginny were waiting. Panting and sweating, the two men collapsed into chairs as soon as they entered the room.

"Where have you been?" Hermione asked sternly from her chair.

""Overslept, (pant), couldn't... find... wand (pant), waited... for.. Harry (pant), ran into... church (pant)." Ron struggled to get his story out.

Hermione rolled her eyes at her boyfriend, and interrupted him by asking, "Do you have your Marielle's rings?"

Ron's eyes went wide with fear as he felt in his pockets, searching for the rings his cousin would need to get married.

"I, uh, I know they're here somewhere..." Ron muttered, searching. Suddenly, a hand was stuck under his nose with the rings inside.

"Here you go mate, I grabbed them off the counter this morning," Harry said with a smirk.

"Thanks!" Ron said, "You really saved my neck mate," he whispered when Hermione wasn't looking.

"Where's Ginny," Harry asked Hermione, who was attempting to tie Ron's bow tie properly.

"Marielle needed her for some last minute things, you won't get to see her until she walks down the aisle I should think." Hermione replied.

"Oh," Harry was disappointed. He had wanted to say hi to her before the wedding. It was his own fault for being late though.

Ginny and Ron's cousin Marielle was getting married today. Ginny had been very close to her cousin when they were younger, and she had been asked to be a bridesmaid in the girls' wedding. Ron had been pretty close to Marielle as well, and she had asked him to bring the rings, although he wasn't in the wedding itself. He would be giving the rings to the best man before the wedding started.

"Ron, you had better go take those rings to John, the wedding will be starting soon," Hermione said, taking control of the situation. "Harry and I will go find seats, come find us when your done."

With a quick goodbye, the three took off. Harry and Hermione walked into the main area of the church hoping to find three seats together. They were rather late which made quite a few people look up at them.

A few minutes after they were seated and Ron had joined them, the wedding march began, and the crowd stood to see the bridal procession.

Harry knew that there were 5 bridesmaids including the Maid of Honor, but he wasn't sure what the order was. Ginny was probably somewhere in the middle of the line, he reasoned.

He was right, she was the third person out, holding onto the arm of one of the groom's friends, Jeremy. Ginny had told Harry that Jeremy was a flirt, and a major pain in the ass. When he saw them walk out, he didn't even care that Jeremy was there though. He only had eyes for Ginny.

She was gorgeous, with her hair down in the soft natural waves it always had, although part of it was pinned back. Her dress was a clear blue, which Harry thought would match her eyes beautifully. It was strapless, and hugged her body until it reached her hips, then it pooled out in a soft silky material around her. Harry closed his mouth as he felt himself start to drool a little; he couldn't help it though, she was so gorgeous.

As she made it to the alter, and went to take her place in line, her eyes met Harry's and she smiled a beautifully pure smile. Harry couldn't breath for a moment or two, and he completely missed the entrance of the bride as he continued to stare at the love of his life.

All throughout the ceremony, Harry was distracted by daydreams of him and Ginny standing at the alter. He imagined her in a pure white dress that would contrast with her vibrant red hair. He could see himself placing a ring on Ginny's finger as he starred into her amazingly blue eyes, similarly to what was really happening in the church with the bride and groom at that moment. He then imagined the priest naming them man and wife, and they would kiss, and run down the aisle surrounded by their friends and family, as husband and wife.

Harry was pulled from his thoughts as he realized that the actual bride and groom of the day had in fact just run down the aisle, and everyone was standing but him. He stood embarrasedly, just in time to see Ginny exit the church with Jeremy on her arm. She turned and winked at him right before she stepped into the bright light from outside.

Harry couldn't wait to find her and kiss her like her was yearning to do.

His thoughts went back to his daydream as he waited for the church to empty. He couldn't believe he hadn't really thought about marriage until today. Sure he had always pictured being with Ginny, he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her, but he had never really thought about actually getting married. Not that he didn't want to marry her; it would be a dream come true, maybe he had thought it was too soon. He wasn't really sure why he hadn't thought about it, but he knew now that he had to ask her soon. Why wait when he could make her his in all sense of the word?

With these thoughts still on his mind, Harry walked out of his row, and down the aisle into the sunlight where he saw Ginny waiting for him, looking as beautiful as she had in his daydream.

He walked up to her and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her entire body closer to him.

"You were perfect up there," Harry said somewhat breathlessly into Ginny's hair.

"Well it wasn't hard," Ginny replied with a laugh. "I just stood there and smiled."

"Well it was a bloody brilliant smile then," Harry said with a smirk.

Ginny playfully smacked him on the shoulder before the couple walked with the other magical guests to the area behind the church where they could apparate unseen by Muggles. The two held hands before spinning quickly on the spot. Seconds later they landed in an alley behind a large banquet hall.

"Let's get inside before we get apparated on," Harry said, pulling Ginny gently forward as he noticed the amount of wizards and witches apparating into the back alley.

As they walked inside, the first thing Ginny and Harry noticed was that Ron and Hermione were sitting at a table together kissing.

"I had hoped we would be sitting with them, but now I'm not so sure that's a good idea," Ginny said playfully looking at the couple.

Harry laughed before saying, "Maybe we could have fun bugging them all night."

Ginny smile mischievously before pulling Harry over to the table where their friends were "preoccupied".

The four friends were enjoying the wedding all through dinner. When it came time for the bride and groom's first dance, Harry's head filled again with images of him and Ginny sharing a similar experience. He glanced around the room and spotted Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. He wondered if they would like having him as a son in law. He really hoped they would.

Minutes later Harry noticed that other couples were starting to join the bride and groom on the dance floor. He stood up gracefully and took Ginny's hand with a smile playing on his face.

"Dance with me?" He asked somewhat timidly.

"Of course," Ginny replied back with a sweet smile.

The two swayed together for hours with Ginny's head on Harry's shoulder, and Harry's hands wrapped firmly around his loves waist. Harry could feel Ginny's breath tickling his neck, and the feeling made him nearly euphoric.

_If you don't ask her to marry you soon, then I will! _**What the heck? I am you, and you are me...you aren't asking her anything unless I do too...wait, now I'm confused. **_Oh bloody hell. Look it's simple, you love her, so your going to ask her to marry you. _**Fine, I agree. **_Wait, you mean...your saying we actually agree on something? _**Yup, there's no way in hell I'm losing Ginny...ever. **_Well..okay! Brilliant! _**You do realise though that if I ask her to marry me, you are technically asking her too? **_Oh shut up! We were doing so well..._

Harry was decided. He was going to ask Ginny to marry him. Soon.

* * *

**Author's Note: **So tell me what you think! I tried to make this chapter long to make up for my extended absence. More on the way soon!


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